Trust
by chem prof
Summary: A 'What if we could go back and change things' story.  What if Harry had trusted his friends more and been more open with them and they with him?  How books 5 and 6 might have been different.  HHr
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. I get nothing out of this except enjoyment. If she wants to use any of these edits and go back and revise either of the last two books, she's welcome to them.

**Introduction**

What if Harry had to chance to go back two years and do some things differently? What might change? What might stay the same? This story begins and ends immediately following the last scene from _Half Blood Prince_. It consists of altered scenes or extended scenes from critical moments in _Order of the Phoenix_ and _Half Blood Prince_, all involving Harry and his friends being more open or trusting with each other. What if … ?

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**Prologue**

"Mate?" Ron said anxiously. "We're with you all the way. You know that, right?" He walked up to Harry and put one hand on each shoulder. "We let you down this year and that's not going to happen again. We're going to trust you, no matter what."

"Harry." Hermione stepped forward, her eyes glistening. "I'm so sorry. I should have trusted you more this year too. I swear it will never happen again. Whatever disagreements we have, we'll all work them out – together."

Harry turned to Hermione and took her hands in his, looking her directly in the eye. "You're right. But it goes both ways. I should have trusted you more too, and been more open with both of you. All the way back to last year. If there's anything I could change in my life that would be it. If I had listened to you back then so much of this might not have happened. Sirius, Dumbledore …" He trailed off, a faraway look in his eye. If only …

He turned back to her again. "I'd give anything to be able to go back and do it again."

For a few seconds everything around him blurred and shimmered. Harry blinked a few times as Hermione came back into focus. He noticed her doing the same, and when he turned his head to look at Ron he was blinking also.

"What the heck just happened?"

Harry was still holding Hermione's hands and looked into her eyes again, thinking back on some of the things that had happened to bring them to this point.

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	2. Fifth Year, Part 1

**Disclaimer and Acknowledgements**

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. I get nothing out of this except enjoyment. The portions of the story in bold font are quotations from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_, copyright © 2003 by J. K. Rowling.

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**Fifth Year, Part 1**

_OOTP, Chapter 9_

_Scene: Grimauld Place, summer before 5th year. The Hogwarts owls have arrived with the book lists and … _

**The door banged open. Hermione came tearing into the room, her cheeks flushed and her hair flying. There was an envelope in her hand.**

"**Did you … did you get …?"**

**She spotted the badge in Harry's hand and let out a shriek. "I knew it!" she said excitedly, brandishing her letter. "Me too, Harry, me too!"**

"**No," said Harry quickly, pushing the badge back into Ron's hand. "It's Ron, not me."**

"**It … what?"**

"**Ron's prefect, not me," Harry said.**

"**_Ron?_" said Hermione, her jaw dropping. "But … are you sure? I mean …"**

**She turned red as Ron looked around at her with a defiant expression on his face.**

…

(later that day)

"Harry?"

Harry looked up to see Hermione standing in the doorway, twisting her hands together nervously. He couldn't help notice the new prefect's badge in her hand. "Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry." Hermione moved into the room and sat down across from him on Ron's bed.

"What for?"

"You're probably feeling bad that Ron's a prefect and you're not."

"No, I …" Harry began. He wasn't about to tell her how jealous he was feeling of Ron. Then something clicked in his mind. This was his best friend. He ought to be able to talk to her about things like this. And she had brought it up, after all.

"Yeah. I am. I'm trying not to but it's hard. He … he deserves to have something good happen to him once in awhile."

"I just wanted you to know that I think you deserved it. I suppose you could tell that, though, the way I acted downstairs." She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap and reddened slightly. "Um, Ron knows it too. He's actually feeling a little guilty about it." She looked back up to him. "I think you two should talk it out. You're best mates, after all. You don't want this to come between you."

Harry was suddenly feeling much better about the whole thing. She was right. Their friendship was strong enough to not let something like this mess it up. "I reckon Dumbledore has his reasons. What with Voldemort back now and all. Maybe he thinks I'll have enough on my mind as it is."

"Yes, perhaps." Hermione seemed to be struggling with something else. She stood up and faced him. "Harry, there's something else I wanted to say." Harry could see that she was nervous again. "I was really hoping it would be you."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought it would be fun, being able to spend some time together, just the two of us. You know, doing prefect stuff."

"Really? I mean I … Gee, thanks. That's nice of you to say." For some reason, Harry's heart was beating faster. "Well, I guess now you'll be able to spend more time with Ron."

"I know. But it won't be the same." Her cheeks bright red now, she whirled and disappeared through the door. Harry could only stare after her, dumbfounded.

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_OOTP, Chapter 13_

_Scene: Harry has just returned from his first detention with Umbridge._

"**At least it's only lines," said Hermione consolingly. "It's not as if it's a dreadful punishment, really …"**

"It's not just lines," Harry responded bitterly. He reached out and showed them the back of his hand.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped. "That's … that's horrible."

"**She's sick!" exclaimed Ron. "Go to McGonagall, say something!"**

"**I don't know how much power McGonagall's got over her," said Harry.**

"**Dumbledore then, tell Dumbledore," insisted Hermione.**

"**No," said Harry flatly.**

"**Why not?"**

"**He's got enough on his mind."**

"Harry," said Hermione, pulling him around to face her. "You have to tell Dumbledore. He would want to know. I'm sure of it." Harry looked at her, seeing the concern on her face and hearing the pleading tone of her voice. She was holding his injured hand in one of hers, lightly stroking the scab with the thumb of her other hand. Suddenly it wasn't hurting so much. And there was a funny feeling in his stomach.

He decided he ought to trust her judgment. "OK."

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"Professor Umbridge," came the stern voice of Dumbledore. "I cannot permit you to harm my students. You will not be allowed to assign detentions any longer. If you have any discipline problems, you will take them to the student's Head of House. Is that understood?"

"You can't do this to me Dumbledore," snarled Umbridge.

"I can and I am. I am still headmaster of this school."

"We'll just see how much longer that lasts," she hissed menacingly. She turned and stalked from the room, shooting Harry a look of pure loathing as she left. It was quite obvious that he now had an enemy for life.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Harry," Dumbledore said softly, looking down at his desk. "You may go now."

As Harry descended the stairs from the headmaster's chambers, it occurred to him that once again, Dumbledore had not made eye contact with him the entire time he was in the office.

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_OOTP, Chapter 16_

_Scene: Hermione and Ron have persuaded Harry to tutor some students in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It is the night before the Hogsmeade visit where they will gather to organize it._

"Harry, can I talk to you?" Hermione had stopped her knitting and come over to where Harry was still working on his homework.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I wanted to make sure you were OK about this Defense Against the Dark Arts business tomorrow in Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it's just you and Ron and a couple others right?"

"Well," Hermione admitted, "it's more than just a couple of others."

Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach. "How many more?"

Hermione sat down next to him and took hold of his arm, but was looking down. It occurred to Harry that she had been touching him rather a bit more often recently. "Quite a few more actually." She felt Harry stiffen and squeezed his arm more tightly, as though to prevent him from escaping, and looked up at him. "A lot of people are enthusiastic about it, Harry. Not only Gryffindors, but Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, too"

"Hermione, I don't know if I can do this in front of that many people. You know I don't like all the attention."

"I know, Harry, but you can do it. You're the only one who can. And remember, Ron and I will be with you all the way. I'll help research spells and everything."

Harry calmed down. Knowing that Hermione would be helping him made him feel better about it. He had to trust her. "OK Hermione. I'll give it a try."

Hermione bounced to her feet, pulling him up with her. Harry could tell how relieved she was. "It'll be fine Harry. You'll be great. I believe in you." Suddenly she pulled him into a hug. But before he could react, she released him, turned, and disappeared up the stairs to her dorm, leaving him once more with a funny feeling in his stomach.

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_OOTP, Chapter 21_

_Scene: The Gryffindor common room right after Harry has returned from the Room of Requirement and told Hermione and Ron about his kiss with Cho._

Ron had gone up to bed, but Hermione remained sitting in the common room still writing her letter to Viktor. But, Harry noted, she hadn't actually written anything for some time, and was staring into the fire. Screwing up his courage, he went over to her and sat down. Startled from her reverie, she looked at him questioningly. He reached over and took her hand, which surprised her so much she dropped her quill. She quickly looked away, her face flushed, and hastily bent to retrieve her quill. He didn't let go of her hand, however.

"Hermione?" Her head snapped back to look at him. "Are you OK?"

"Me?" she asked, her voice higher pitched than normal. "Sure, I'm OK," she stammered unconvincingly.

"You didn't look too happy earlier while I was telling you about Cho." Hermione looked away again, but said nothing. "Please," he said softly. "Talk to me." He paused. "Trust me."

Still looking away, Hermione whispered so that Harry could barely hear her, "did you like it?"

"What?"

"When Cho kissed you. Did you like it?"

Harry thought about it. It hadn't exactly been unpleasant, but it also hadn't been much like how he had envisioned kissing Cho would be, what with her crying and all. "Not as much as I thought I would."

Now Hermione turned to face him. Her eyes were damp, but she quickly tried to wipe them dry with her sleeve. Still holding her other hand, Harry reached up with his free hand and gently brushed aside a tear from her cheek. He suddenly realized that Hermione was much closer than she had been a moment ago. Somehow her hand had ended up on the back of his neck, and he found his head moving toward hers. Before he knew it their lips had touched.

A warm feeling rushed from Harry's chest, spreading out through his arms and legs, sending a tingle to his fingers and toes. Now, this was what he thought a kiss should feel like. Her lips were so soft and warm, and they moved in harmony with his own as they tasted each other for the first time.

Then she pulled back. The tears were gone and her eyes sparkled with happiness. Harry was finding it difficult to breathe, as an enormous pressure had built up in his chest.

"Was that better?"

Still catching his breath, Harry could only nod. Hermione gave him a mischievous smile and bent to gather her things together. As she turned to go, Harry finally found his voice.

"Hermione?" She stopped and turned back. "What? What are we …?" He stopped as she put her finger to his lips and shook her head. Still rooted to the spot, he watched as she walked slowly toward the stairs, her hips swaying seductively. Either he had never noticed that before or she had never done it before. When she reached the stairs she turned back again and finally spoke.

"Just think about it. We'll talk after the holidays. Have a nice Christmas."

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_OOTP, Chapter 23_

_Scene: Grimmauld Place during the Christmas holiday. Harry has shut himself up in Buckbeak's room because he fears he has been possessed by Voldemort. Hermione has just arrived._

"**I know you're in there," said Hermione's voice. "Will you please come out? I want to talk to you."**

"**What are you doing here?" Harry asked her, pulling open the door. "I thought you were skiing with your mum and dad." There was snow in her hair and her face was pink with cold.** And he had never been so glad to see anyone in his life. _Hermione_ wouldn't be afraid to be around him. _She_ would be able to figure out what was happening to him. These thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she caught him in a crushing hug.

"I decided you needed me. Oh Harry, why do all of these things have to happen to you?" she moaned into his shoulder, still not releasing him. A warmth filled him as he remembered the last time they had been together. Had that really been only two days ago?

"**I came on the Knight Bus,"** she explained after she had finally pulled away. **Dumbledore told me what happened first thing this morning **and I knew I had to come straight here as soon as I could. Come on, let's go to your room and sort this out," she finished, taking his hand and leading him back to the second floor.

**When they entered the bedroom he was rather surprised to see both Ginny and Ron waiting for them, sitting on Ron's bed.** For their part, Ginny and Ron were surprised that Hermione had talked him out of his funk so quickly, and that the pair had entered the bedroom holding hands. Their eyes widened further when Hermione sat down on Harry's bed next to him and put her arm around his waist.

Harry was chagrined to hear that Ron and Ginny thought he was avoiding them, while he thought they were keeping away from him. When he claimed they wouldn't look at him, Ginny shot back that he wouldn't look at them.

"**Maybe you're taking it in turns to look and keep missing each other," suggested Hermione, the corners of her mouth twitching.** Harry gave her a sheepish look. He had been acting like an idiot. He should know by now that he could trust his friends.

When Ginny pointed out that _she_ would have been able to tell him what it was like to be possessed by You-Know-Who he felt even more foolish. But that turned to an immense feeling of relief when they compared notes and decided that he had definitely _not_ been possessed, and Ron assured him that he had never left his bed while he was having the nightmare/vision. Suddenly Christmas was becoming much more enjoyable.

"So," Ginny asked with a curious expression on her face as Harry took Hermione's hand while they happily returned to the kitchen. "Is there something you two ought to tell us?"

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_OOTP, Chapter 24_

_Scene: The students have just returned to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus after the Christmas holiday._

Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves once more in the Gryffindor common room after the wild trip back to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus. Harry hadn't actually minded the ride so much, since it gave him an excuse to hold on tightly to Hermione. She had been covering her eyes with her hands most of the way and had peeked out at him briefly and given him a grateful smile for trying to keep her calm.

"Harry, what did Sirius give you right before we left?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know. He said it was a way of letting him know if Snape's giving me a hard time. But I won't use it," Harry said defiantly. "I'm not going to be the one who gets Sirius caught by making him come after Snape."

"Harry," Hermione reasoned. "That's good thinking, but it doesn't mean you can't at least open it up and see what it is and how it works. You can use it to talk to Sirius about things other than Snape you know. He's probably lonely there and would love to just talk to you."

Harry reluctantly agreed and Ron and Hermione watched as he pulled apart the wrappings on the package to find a small, square mirror inside. It didn't seem like much of a present, as it certainly had seen better days. He turned it over to see the note from Sirius.

"It says it's a two-way mirror," he announced to the others, who were craning their necks trying to look over his shoulder. "Sirius has one too, and he says we can talk to each other in them. He and my dad used to use them to talk to each other when they were in detention," he added, smiling up at Hermione. He figured that would get a rise out of her. He was right, as she rolled her eyes and shook her head at the thought of the pair of troublemakers.

"Wow, that's brilliant," was Ron's response. Harry decided that was pretty much the way he felt about it too, and once she had maintained her reputation by expressing her disapproval, Hermione agreed that it _was_ rather clever.

Once Harry had wrapped up the mirror again, Hermione noticed that his troubled look had returned. Guessing what it was that still had him upset, she leaned forward and took his hand.

"Harry," she said in a low voice. Harry looked up sharply. He had begun brooding again over the 'Remedial Potions' lessons the next day and had tuned his friends out. She had surprised him by taking his hand and his face flushed slightly. "I'll try to help you as much as I can with Occlumency. It's about organizing your mind, and well …"

Despite his mood, Harry smiled. "And who would be better at something that requires an organized mind than Hermione Granger?" Hermione looked down in embarrassment, her face turning red also, but he could see the smile that had crept onto it at his compliment.

Ron, looking at his two friends holding hands, and noticing the red faces, got the hint and excused himself, announcing more loudly than necessary that it had been a long day and he figured he would head off to bed.

Hermione eventually looked back up at Harry, and all thoughts of Occlumency lessons vanished as he found himself becoming lost in those warm brown eyes.

"Um, Hermione?" Harry began hesitantly. "I was thinking, well, you know a Hogsmeade weekend is coming up and maybe, I mean the three of us always go together, but I was wondering if, you know …"

Hermione's smile had grown steadily brighter during Harry's stumbling attempt to ask her on a date. Finally she decided to help him out. "Maybe we could spend at least part of it as just the two of us?"

Harry's smile matched her own. "Yeah that. What do you think?"

The look Hermione gave him made his stomach flutter a little. "I think that would be lovely." Harry noticed that somewhere along the way the two of them had stood up and were now facing each other, with both hands clasping each other's. Hermione suddenly leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss, then turned and hurried up the stairs to her dorm. Harry stood staring after her for a minute, his hand touching his lips where she had kissed him, then went up to his own room.

Once he had settled into bed, Harry thought back over the holiday, and his new relationship with Hermione. He finished by turning his thoughts to the mirror. He was glad he had listened to her and opened the package. She was right; he could use it to talk to Sirius about other things, and would even be able to get to know his godfather a little better. She was usually right, he told himself. He should listen to her more often.

"Harry?" Ron's voice came from his bed.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on with you and Hermione?"

"I'm not sure." He hesitated. The last thing he wanted was for Ron to get jealous again. But he certainly couldn't deny that something was happening. "I've kinda realized that I like her. I mean, more than just friends."

"What about Cho?"

Harry suddenly realized that he hadn't thought about Cho since the night … since _that_ night. "Er, I don't know." He definitely wasn't going to tell Ron that he enjoyed kissing Hermione more than Cho. Ron probably wouldn't be too thrilled to hear that he had kissed Hermione at all. That revelation could wait. "Hermione's easier to talk to and she's pretty nice, you know, at least when she's not nagging us about homework and she's always there when I need her and …" Harry stopped rambling. It didn't sound too convincing, and a month ago he wouldn't have believed it either. It was hard to explain. Hermione was just … so right for him.

There was a long silence from the other bed. Finally Ron spoke up again. "The two of you aren't going to get all weird, are you?" Harry thought he knew what Ron was really asking.

"Ron, nothing's going to change with the three of us. We'll still be a team, all right? Maybe Hermione and I will want to spend a bit more time by ourselves, but it'll mostly be the three of us together, just like always." There was no response from Ron. "Look, you and I do stuff together without her, and you and her have prefect stuff together without me, so now she and I have this." Harry paused to let that sink in. "Will you be OK with that?"

There was another long silence before Ron's reply. "I guess."

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_OOTP, Chapter 24_

_Scene: Between classes on the first day after the Christmas holiday_

Zacharias Smith had just strode away after making an irritating comment about Harry's 'Remedial Potions'.

"**It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it?"** Harry was saying. **"That I'm really stup …"**

"**Hi Harry," said a voice behind him. He turned around and found Cho standing there.**

"**Oh," said Harry as his stomach leapt uncomfortably. "Hi."**

Hermione announced that she and Ron would be in the library and dragged him off, but paused when they got to the marble staircase and turned to watch anxiously.

Cho asked about Christmas and Harry gave a noncommittal answer, trying to figure out how to get away without being rude. Then Cho mentioned that a Hogsmeade trip was coming up and Harry gave another vague response.

"**Yes, it's on Valentine's Day …"** That revelation by Cho really got Harry's attention. Valentine's Day? He had asked Hermione out on a date on Valentine's Day? Did she know it was going to be Valentine's Day? Well, of course she did, Hermione knew everything. But did he want his relationship with Hermione to move forward that far so quickly? _Well, yeah, I think I do._ Harry could feel a large grin growing on his face as he voiced that thought in his mind. Unfortunately, Cho interpreted it as being due to him thinking of her.

"So …?" she asked expectantly.

Harry finally figured out what was happening in this conversation._ Uh oh. How am I going to get out of this now?_

"Er, Valentine's Day, huh?" he stammered. "I hadn't realized. Well, Ron and Hermione and I usually go into Hogsmeade together so I imagine we'll just do that this time too."

"Oh." Cho said, looking disappointed. "Maybe some other time then." Now Harry felt guilty. It wasn't right to string her along like this, thinking there was still a chance for them if he didn't feel that way.

"Actually," he replied nervously. "I'm going to be spending part of the day with just Hermione."

Cho's eyes narrowed suspiciously and she stared at him. He gave her a slight nod. Her expression changed to dismay, then anger. She looked down the hall to where Hermione and Ron were still standing and glared at the bushy haired witch. "I see. Well, if that's what you think you want." She turned back to Harry, tossed her hair back over her shoulder, and folded her arms across her chest, giving him one last chance to change his mind. Getting no response from him, she turned and strode away in a huff.

While he was standing there watching her back fade into the crowd of students, Harry felt a comforting hand clasp his. A smile broke out on his face as he turned to see Hermione beaming back up at him. The two stood there communicating without words until Ron interrupted them.

"I thought we were going to the library," the lanky redhead grumbled. After sharing one last knowing look, the pair of students smiled once more and followed their best friend up the staircase, still holding hands.

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_OOTP, Chapter 25_

_Scene: Valentine's Day in Hogsmeade_

"So, where do you want to go?" Harry asked uncertainly. The three of them had come into Hogsmeade together like always, but Ron, knowing that it was Valentine's Day and that his friends might want to spend some time by themselves, had excused himself and disappeared.

"Well," Hermione started, apparently deep in thought, "we might want to go to Madame Puddifoot's." Harry had no idea what Madame Puddifoot's was, and as Hermione described the tea shop she could see the mounting horror on his face, try to hide it though he might. Finally she could no longer keep a straight face and burst out laughing.

"Honestly, Harry, did you really think I would make you go to a place like that?" Harry shrugged sheepishly. It didn't seem like the kind of place Hermione would like, but he didn't want to insult her by implying that she wasn't a girl because she wouldn't like girly things. "So," she pressed him, "where do you think I'd like to go?"

Harry glanced over at her nervously, but her friendly smile didn't seem to suggest that this was a trick question that would get him in trouble. "Um, maybe the bookstore?" he offered.

"Perfect!" Hermione responded happily. "I thought you'd never ask." She took his hand and cheerfully led him off down the street. "But first, let's go into Scrivenshaft's and you can buy me a sugar quill for a Valentine's present." Harry, thrilled that he had given the right answer, quickly agreed with her suggestion.

As they emerged from Scrivenshaft's, Hermione mentioned that she had arranged for them to meet someone at the Three Broomsticks later, but gave no further details. When they entered the bookstore Harry couldn't help smiling at the way her eyes sparkled in delight. At first they looked at defense books together, picking out a couple of promising titles, then Hermione left him by the quidditch books as she ventured further into the dusty stacks. After a bit she reappeared carrying a pile of books so high she was lost from view and he quickly took some from her. She politely thanked him and with an odd look in her eye suggested, "Let's leave these here at the counter; there's something I want to show you." Harry allowed her to guide him back through some aisles where he noted that it looked like no one had been in years. "I noticed that too," she agreed. At the back of one of these aisles she turned to him expectantly. Puzzled, Harry looked up at the bookshelves and then back at her.

"Just what did you want to show me?"

"This." With that Hermione put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. Before Harry knew what was happening he was enjoying the most wonderful feeling of his life. For a moment he let himself get lost in the sensation as her lips hungrily attacked his own, and he responded in kind. Then it occurred to him that he was snogging Hermione Granger in a bookstore. Somehow, he couldn't think of anything more appropriate. Eventually the need for air forced them to break apart and they just stood there with their eyes locked, his arms around her back and hers still around his neck. A grin broke out on his face and a matching one blossomed on hers.

"Well, what do you think of what I wanted to show you?" she asked teasingly.

"I think that this bookstore just became my favorite place in Hogsmeade." That response earned him a replay of the kiss that was every bit as fantastic as the original.

Reluctantly they decided that it was time to go back to the front of the shop and make their purchases. Then Hermione told him it was time for their appointment in the Three Broomsticks. As he and Hermione made their way through the crowded pub toward a table in the back Harry couldn't believe his eyes. There at the table waiting for them were **the unlikeliest pair of drinking mates he could ever have imagined: Luna Lovegood and none other than Rita Skeeter, ex-journalist on the Daily Prophet and one of Hermione's least favorite people in the world.**

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A/N I plan to post this in four parts, two for Book 5 and two for Book 6. Hope you like it.


	3. Fifth Year, Part 2

**Disclaimer and Acknowledgements**

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. I get nothing out of this except enjoyment. Portions of the story in bold font are quotations from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_, copyright © 2003 by J. K. Rowling.

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**Fifth Year, Part 2**

_OOTP, Chapter 29_

_Scene: Beginning of the chapter, first day of Easter holidays._

"**But why haven't you got Occlumency lessons anymore?" said Hermione, frowning.**

"I …" Harry paused, chagrined. He wanted to tell her that the lessons had been successful and that he didn't need them any longer, but he knew Hermione wouldn't buy that. She knew him too well and was aware he had just had another dream the night before his last lesson with Snape.

"You're still having those strange dreams," said Hermione, stroking his arm soothingly. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"**Well, I don't think Snape should stop until you're absolutely sure you can control them!" she said indignantly. "Harry, I think you should go back to him and ask …"**

"No," he said forcefully. She pulled back a little with a hurt look on her face and he softened his tone. "I can't. I just … can't. Can't you just let it go?" he pleaded. Hermione reached out and took his hand. He could see from her face that she was trying to understand, but she cared too much about him to let something so important drop.

"Look," he said, dropping his eyes and focusing on their clasped hands. "I saw something last time, something from one of Snape's memories. It was really awful and when he found out he was furious and threw me out of his office and told me to never come back." He looked back up into her brown eyes, which radiated her concern . "I can't tell you what it was, but …"

"No, that's all right," she broke in. "You're right, it would be wrong to talk about something private like that," she conceded. "Even for someone like Snape." Hermione's normal reluctance to speak poorly of a professor had evaporated as she had seen how tortured Harry was at the end of each of Snape's lessons. On the one hand, she was glad he wouldn't be subjected to the painful sessions any longer, but on the other hand everyone had kept telling Harry how important it was for him to master Occlumency. She decided to bring up an idea she had been considering for a while.

"Look," she began hesitantly. "Perhaps I could try to practice it with you instead. I've read a bit about Occlumency the past couple of months …"

"How many different books?" Despite his distaste for the subject, Harry couldn't resist teasing her a little.

"Four, actually," Hermione admitted, blushing slightly. "Well, I wanted to help you," she protested at the grin that crept onto his face. Harry gave her hand a squeeze to let her know that it was all right and that he appreciated her effort.

"OK," he agreed. "Maybe it will help." Hermione brightened up and they were both relieved to have come up with the solution. She changed the subject and soon had launched into an explanation of the study schedules she had drawn up for Harry and Ron for the Easter holidays.

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_OOTP, Chapter 29_

_Scene: Harry has decided to call Sirius on his mirror (instead of sneaking in to use Umbridge's floo) to ask about his father and Snape_

"How did it go?"

Harry had just finished talking to Sirius in his mirror. After an anguished week of brooding over the loathsome way he had seen his father behave in Snape's pensieve, he had finally confided in Hermione. She had agreed with his idea of asking Sirius about it, although he had his misgivings. _Did he really want to know that his father had been a jerk?_ He had finally made up his mind to do it, and the trio had retreated to a private corner of the common room where he could use the mirror undisturbed.

Harry shrugged. "He and Remus didn't have a very good reason, actually. Said they were arrogant little berks back then. Snape and my dad hated each other and each tried to curse the other every chance they got. Sirius explained it by saying they were only fifteen and were idiots back then."

"I'm sorry, Harry." Hermione felt awful. Harry had always had an idealistic picture of his father in his mind, and this revelation would be hard to take. But Harry waved it away.

"But they really went nutters when I told them Snape stopped teaching me Occlumency. Both of them wanted to come up here and have it out with him right now. I told them you were trying to teach me but they still weren't too happy about it."

"How's that going, anyway?" asked Ron.

"Well, he's doing better at clearing his mind and organizing his thoughts …" began Hermione.

"Yeah, now that I actually know how I'm supposed to do it," Harry interrupted irritably.

"But his defenses are still very weak," Hermione continued glumly. "His mind is easy to penetrate, but at least he's able to hide memories he doesn't want me to find now."

"Like the one of that time in the Room of Requirement with Cho?" teased Ron, punching Harry on the arm. To his delight, both Harry and Hermione turned scarlet.

"But maybe it's just that I'm not much of a Legilimens," Hermione said quickly, trying to move the conversation away from the memory that Harry had been mortified to have her see. It had been the only time he had forced her out of his mind. While she tried to be upbeat and assure him that they had been making progress, they were both concerned that his mind seemed to be even more open now than when he had started.

"Sometimes I wonder if Ron wasn't right," Harry mused, his thoughts paralleling her own. Certainly his worst visions had always come right after sessions with Snape.

"Right about what?" asked Ron, who hadn't followed their unspoken train of thought.

"Right about Snape," responded Hermione absently, chewing her lower lip in thought..

Ron's eyes widened. "You mean he really is working for You-Know-Who?"

"No, not that," sighed Hermione irritably. "About him making Harry's mind more open to his attacks. And no, that doesn't necessarily make him a Death Eater," she added quickly as Ron began to protest. "I mean, we already know he's not a very good teacher, right? Just because he's good at Occlumency doesn't mean he's any good at teaching it."

Ron continued to grumble that Snape still might be a Death Eater as Harry spoke up. "That's true. I'm doing much better at Potions now that he's ignoring me. I think I'd be even better if he never even bothered to come into the room." He grinned at Hermione who tried to give him a disapproving look but failed. After a brief smile her glum expression returned. Harry correctly guessed that she was frustrated that she hadn't been able to help him make more progress.

"Hermione, listen to me." Harry moved closer to her and took both of her hands in his. "I know you think we're not making much progress but I'm doing loads better with you than I was with him. Honest." She still didn't look convinced. "Thanks to you – and your books …" That got a bit of a smile out of her. "I understand what I'm doing now." Hermione finally looked up at him and he held her gaze, trying to convey his appreciation and affection.

Ron cleared his throat and jumped to his feet, uncomfortable with where this appeared to be going. "I think I'll just head on along to the Great Hall for a bit. See you later, OK?" He hurried across the room and out the portrait hole.

A flicker of amusement passed between them, but Harry wasn't finished yet. "Hermione, I can't begin to thank you for all you've done for me this year. Being with you is the only thing that's kept me sane. I'd probably be a raving lunatic by now. I don't know what I'd do without you." Hermione flushed and tried to look away, but found herself drawn back to those earnest green eyes. She began a halfhearted protest, but Harry shook it off. "Look, it's even because of you that I've been able to talk to Sirius. I would've put that mirror away and forgotten about it if you hadn't talked some sense into me. Then where would I be now? I'd probably have tried to break into Umbridge's office to use her floo to contact him."

Hermione laughed and shook her head in mock disapproval. "Oh honestly Harry, not even _you_ would do something that crazy." He pretended to pout at the insult, then smiled and pulled her into a hug. The pair sat in comfortable silence until suddenly Ron burst back through the portrait hole.

"Harry, Hermione, come quick! You've got to see this. Fred and George just turned the fifth floor corridor into a swamp!"

-----

_OOTP, Chapter 32_

_Scene: Harry has just had the vision of Sirius being tortured at the Department of Mysteries and pulled Ron and Hermione into an empty classroom where Hermione is trying to talk him out of rushing off to save him without checking it out first. Ginny and Luna have just joined them._

"**Harry, I'm begging you, please!" said Hermione desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London – if we find he's not there then I swear I won't try and stop you, I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him …"** She suddenly pulled him into a hug and leaned her face close to his ear. "Use your mirror," she whispered urgently. "The rest of us will be out in the corridor standing guard."

Hermione pulled away and watched Harry anxiously, waiting for his response.

Conflicting emotions surged through Harry. He desperately needed to know that Sirius was all right, and was impatient to do something, but he recognized that Hermione's suggestion made sense. Another part of him also recognized her offer to accompany him and help him however she could as a sign of her loyalty and concern for him.

He blew out a breath and took in another one to calm himself. "OK, but if he doesn't answer I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now." Ignoring Luna's question about the Department of Mysteries, Hermione ushered her, Ginny, and Ron out into the corridor and instructed them to make sure no one came into the classroom. She left the task of explaining to the two girls what was going on to Ron and rejoined Harry in the classroom. **She hurried over to the window and stood out of sight, peering out into the grounds with her wand out.**

Harry opened the mirror. "Sirius Black!" After a few seconds he tried again, a bit louder. Still no response. He glanced over at Hermione who was looking back at him with mounting apprehension. She nodded to the mirror, silently pleading with him to give it one more try. "Sirius Black!" he all but shouted. Nothing. He clamped the mirror shut and snapped at Hermione, " That's it, we're going …"

"Harry Potter?" Harry jerked his attention back to the mirror in his hand while Hermione slumped against the window in relief.

"Sirius! Where are you? Are you OK? What happened?"

"Whoa, slow down. I'm right here at home. What are you talking about? What's supposed to have happened?" Harry felt all of the built-up frustration and tension whoosh right out of him as he slumped against a desk. Hermione was at his side in an instant, her arm around him in support as she pressed up close to him to see the mirror. Somewhat embarrassed now, Harry described the vision he had had during the History of Magic OWL exam. To Sirius's question about Occlumency he responded that he had been doing much better lately, and hadn't had any dreams recently until this one. Through the mirror he could see Sirius becoming more agitated as his tale continued.

"It's a trap. It must be. That's the only thing that makes sense. He planted that vision on you in order to get you to go to the Department of Mysteries. He's been trying to get someone in there all year, and for some reason he's decided that you can get in and get whatever he wants. Then he'll probably have someone there to take it from you."

Harry could only stare at the mirror in astonishment. Beside him Hermione spoke up. "That makes sense, Harry. He must have been planning this for months. That's why he's been sending you that dream over and over again, to try to get you to go there."

"Harry, under no circumstances are you to leave Hogwarts," Sirius ordered. "Stay right there. If he wants you at the Department of Mysteries then that's the last place you should be. However," he said with an eager gleam in his eye, "I think we can turn the tables on him."

"What do you mean?" demanded Harry, suddenly anxious again. "You can't go there. If it's a trap, he'll get you instead. Or else you'll get caught by the Aurors."

"Oh, I won't go alone. But don't you see? This is a chance to expose what he's been doing. I could be cleared."

"Sirius, no …" But before he could utter another word, a hand reached out and grabbed Harry's wrist. Startled, he jerked his head up and found himself staring into the wide, pallid face of Professor Umbridge.

"I knew it," she shrieked triumphantly. "You were talking to Sirius Black. You know where he's hiding, don't you. Give me that!" She and Harry were wrestling over the mirror, and with a desperate tug, he managed to pull it out of her hands. Unfortunately, he didn't have a firm grip on it either, and it fell to the ground, shattering into a dozen pieces. Harry whirled back to glare at her, and only now took in the rest of the room. Malfoy was **smirking as he threw Harry's wand one-handed into the air and caught it again, **while his own wand was pointing menacingly at Harry.** Hermione was pinioned against the wall by Millicent Bulstrode.**

**There was a commotion outside and several large Slytherins entered, each gripping Ron, Ginny, Luna, and – to Harry's bewilderment – Neville.** Umbridge surveyed all of this with an evil smirk and sneered, "Take them all up to my office. We'll get to the bottom of this. And **Draco, fetch Professor Snape."**

-----

_OOTP, Chapter 33 and 36_

_Scene: Hermione has tricked Umbridge into taking them out to the Forbidden Forest and the centaurs have carried her away, and Grawp has showed up to save them from the centaurs. Meanwhile, there is a battle going on at the Ministry of Magic where Sirius and the Order went to try to capture the Death Eaters who were setting the trap for Harry._

Harry and Hermione stood watching Grawp chase after the centaurs. Harry couldn't believe it – Hermione's spur of the moment plan to escape from Umbridge had worked. Sort of. They were free, but the Inquisitorial Squad still had their wands. And they were stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. But still …

"**Smart plan,**" he complimented her. He really didn't know what he would do without her to help him get out of the scrapes he kept finding himself in. **"Really smart plan. Where do we go from here?"**

"**We need to get back up to the castle," said Hermione faintly**, still shaking from the terror she had felt when Grawp had tried to grab her. Harry moved next to her and put his arms around her to calm her down and she leaned back into him gratefully.

**Suddenly Harry's scar burst open.** **He knew he was dead: it was pain beyond imagining, pain past endurance.** Then an all too familiar voice hissed, _'I have you now, Harry Potter.'_

He forced his eyes open and found himself in a large hall, locked in a creature with red eyes, in a body that was no longer his own. He recognized the hall – it was the atrium of the Ministry of Magic. And he found himself staring at Albus Dumbledore. Harry quickly recognized what was happening. He was in Voldemort's body once more, looking out through Voldemort's eyes. The dark lord must have been dueling with Professor Dumbledore and Harry had joined his mind again. And yet – this time it seemed to be different.

'_That's right Harry Potter. This time the transfer is complete. I have taken over your body and you are locked in mine. And when Dumbledore casts the spell you will die in that shell of a body that I created with your assistance a year ago. But I will live on in your body. It may be only fifteen years old but no matter. I will make good use of it. And I will be rid of you forever. Farewell, Harry Potter.'_

Now the creature he was occupying spoke, and there was nothing Harry could do to stop it.

"**Kill me now, Dumbledore."** The pain was overwhelming, and struggle as he would, Harry could not break free. Even though he was in Voldemort's body, the evil wizard still controlled his voice and his movements. There was nothing he could do to let the headmaster know it was him inside the dark lord's body. Instinctively, he knew that even if Dumbledore refused to kill him, as Harry suspected he would, the dark lord would do something to make sure this body was destroyed, even if he had to cast the killing curse on himself.

Harry mentally prepared himself for the end. At least death would release him from this pain. He would continue to fight against it to the end, but he knew it was futile. Voldemort was just too powerful for him. It was only a matter of time.

_HERMIONE!_

In a panic Harry suddenly realized. If Voldemort had taken over _his_ body, that meant that he was with Hermione in the Forbidden Forest. Even now, Hermione was probably holding Harry's body as he lay writhing on the ground, thinking that it just another one of Voldemort's attacks. As soon he finished with Harry, Voldemort would take control of his body and kill her.

_No! Not Hermione! Don't let her die, don't let her die, it's my fault if she dies …_Harry couldn't bear the thought that the girl who meant so much to him would be killed, and worse, killed by his own body after it was taken over by Voldemort.

**As Harry's heart filled with emotion**, Voldemort's hold on him loosened. He caught a fleeting feeling of agony from the dark lord's mind before the connection was broken and the pain was gone. He felt that he was back in his own body, and as his own senses returned he found himself lying on the ground, his head cradled in Hermione's lap, and felt her stroking his forehead. He opened his eyes to see tears running down her anguished face.

"Hermione! You're OK!"

"Me? Of course I'm all right. What about you?" To Hermione's surprise Harry threw his arms around her and pulled her down to himself, hugging her harder than he ever had, the emotion of the last five minutes overwhelming him. Just as he began to try to figure out how to explain what had happened they heard voices.

"Harry! Hermione! Is that you?" Harry and Hermione scrambled to their feet as **Ron came into sight, closely followed by Ginny, Neville, and Luna. All of them looked a little the worse for wear – there were several long scratches running the length of Ginny's cheek, a large purple lump was swelling above Neville's right eye, Ron's lip was bleeding worse than ever – but all were looking rather pleased with themselves. **

"How did you get away?" asked Harry in amazement, taking his wand from Ron. The four of them related how they had overpowered their captors, ending with a description of Ginny's Bat-Bogey hex on Malfoy. Then Harry and Hermione explained how they got away from Umbridge.

"Then Harry had another attack from Voldemort through his scar," finished Hermione, casting a worried look in his direction. It was the worst one ever. His scar was bleeding and he was on the ground shaking for five minutes."

"You don't know the half of it," began Harry. "I …" He was interrupted by the screech of an owl. They all turned in the direction of the noise and saw Hedwig flying toward them, carrying something in her claws. Puzzled, Harry reached up and took the sock she was carrying. Inside the sock was a phoenix feather quill. As he reached into the sock to grab the phoenix feather he felt the familiar sensation of a hook being jerked behind his navel, and the forest disappeared in a whirlwind of color and sound.

-----

_OOTP, Chapter 37_

_Scene: Harry has returned to Dumbledore's office via the portkey. In this version, though, it was from the Forbidden Forest, not the Ministry of Magic._

Harry fell to the floor with a resounding clunk and looking around, saw that he had arrived in Dumbledore's office. In an instant the headmaster was picking him up and helping him to one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk. Everything seemed to have repaired itself during the headmaster's absence. Before he had a chance to examine the office any further Professor Dumbledore spoke in an urgent tone of voice.

"Harry, you must tell me what has happened to you this evening." Startled, Harry looked up at the headmaster and was surprised at what he found. Instead of the customary friendly expression and twinkling eyes there was only grave concern and an anxious look he had never seen on the professor's face before.

Somewhat shaken, by Dumbledore's expression as well as by his recent possession by Voldemort, Harry began to tell his tale, hesitantly at first but then more quickly as he realized that he was not in trouble for his and Hermione's actions regarding Umbridge. Dumbledore only nodded a few times and even managed a brief smile at Hermione's cleverness. But when Harry got to the end and told about the pain erupting in his scar followed by his feeling of being in Voldemort's body the anxious look returned.

"Unfortunately Harry, your assumption about what was happening to you is correct. Tom and I were indeed battling in the Ministry of Magic earlier this evening. I suspected that something had happened when he demanded that I kill him. I could sense an internal struggle going on. You were not as powerless within him as you thought – he could barely control his body while you were residing in it. The good part about this is that you were able finally to overcome him and eject him from your mind and return to your own body. In doing so you caused him a considerable amount of pain. I do not think it likely that he will attempt to possess you again."

Although this was good news indeed, Harry had an awful feeling that there was more to the story. "What else happened at the Ministry?" he asked urgently. "What happened to Sirius?"

Dumbledore looked more miserable than ever. And even before he spoke, Harry knew what he was about to say. "I'm sorry Harry. Sirius is dead."

Harry slumped back in his chair stunned. Sirius was gone. It was his fault. **If he, Harry, had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick, if he had not been so convinced that what he had seen in the dream was real,** if he had not contacted Sirius and told him about the trap, Sirius would still be alive. He hardly heard Dumbledore continue telling him what had happened. How Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Shacklebolt went to the Ministry intending to surprise whoever was lying in wait for Harry outside the Department of Mysteries. How they had encountered not one or two, but twelve of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. How the Order members had fallen one by one until Dumbledore himself arrived to turn the tide. How Belatrix Lestrange had escaped, and Sirius had pursued her into the atrium where he had her cornered until Voldemort arrived. How Dumbledore himself had come on the scene too late, just as Voldemort killed Sirius. How Dumbledore and Voldemort had then dueled, and Voldemort's strange behavior during the duel that had made Dumbledore suspicious that something was happening with Harry.

Harry had heard enough. Sirius was dead. What else mattered? And for what? He turned his back on Dumbedore and stared out the window. "So what was this great weapon anyway?" he asked bitterly. "That almost got Mr. Weasley killed and now Sirius is …" He couldn't bring himself to say it. It was as though if he kept himself from admitting it, it might not be true.

"Not a weapon, but a prophecy," Dumbledore answered. "A prophecy concerning you and Voldemort, made before you were born. A prophecy Voldemort has been trying to get his hands on all year. He finally discovered that it could only be retrieved by either you or himself, and as he couldn't just walk into the Ministry of Magic himself he attempted to lure you into going after it. Fortunately it, along with a whole shelf of other prophecies, was smashed during the fighting tonight."

"That's all!" Harry cried in disbelief as he spun around to face the headmaster again. "Sirius had to die for some stupid prophecy?"

"**I know how you are feeling, Harry," said Dumbledore very quietly.**

"**No, you don't," said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and strong. White hot anger leapt inside him. Dumbledore knew _nothing_ about his feelings.**

Harry continued to rage as Dumbledore explained the events of the evening and Harry's connection with Voldemort, and why he had wanted Harry to learn Occlumency. Harry even went so far as to smash some of the silvery instruments in the headmaster's office and upend one of the tables. (Read the details in OOTP Ch. 37.) When Dumbledore tried to explain why Sirius was so eager to leave the house and go to the Ministry of Magic to ambush the trap that Voldemort had set for Harry, he exploded again.

"**People don't like being locked up!" Harry said furiously, rounding on him. "You did it to me all last summer …"**

**Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. "It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry."**

Harry gradually grew quieter as Dumbledore related the events of the last five years and put them into the context of the prophecy. He fell into the chair again and sat limply as a feeling of dread settled over him. Then Dumbledore revealed the words of the prophecy. He felt as though everything was closing in upon him, and his breathing became more difficult. Finally he could stand it no longer.

"But what power are you talking about?" he asked in a strangled voice. **"I haven't got any powers he hasn't got. I can't possess people or … or kill them."**

"**There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted Dumbledore, "that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power** compelled you to try to go **save Sirius tonight**.** That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests.** That force, Harry, is love. ** In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.** Your heart that was more concerned with what would happen to Miss Granger than it was with your own fate."

**Harry closed his eyes. **If he had not told Sirius about the vision, Sirius would not have died **… **After asking Dumbledore a few more questions, he rose from his seat and left the headmaster's office.

As Harry emerged from the stairs by the stone gargoyles, Ron and Hermione came running up. But Harry was in no mood right now to talk to anyone.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione cried.

"Where'd you disappear to, mate?" asked Ron. "Is Dumbledore back?"

"Yeah, he's back," Harry snarled, still angry over what he had just been told. "As for what happened, Sirius is dead." Two horrified gasps greeted this revelation but he continued, turning to Hermione. "He went to the Ministry just like he said he would. But a bunch of Death Eaters were there and Voldemort ended up killing him." He was shouting at her now. "If I hadn't listened to you and told him about my vision he would still be alive."

"No," Hermione whispered in dismay. "Oh no. I'm so sorry." She reached out to try to comfort him but he pulled away angrily and ran down the corridor away from them, not seeing her sink slowly to her knees, sobbing.

For a while the only sound in the corridor was Hermione's continued weeping as Ron stood there, too shocked to speak. Then the doorway to the stairs to the headmaster's office opened and Dumbledore appeared behind them. The headmaster and Ron both attempted to calm her down but she would not be comforted. "What have I done?" she wailed. "He's going to hate me now"

"No, Miss Granger, I do not think that is something you need worry about. Please come with me, both of you, and I will explain what has happened to your friend tonight." With that he took them up into his office and related the story of what happened at the Ministry of Magic, and that Harry had driven Voldemort from his mind.

Harry wandered the halls of Hogwarts in a daze, his mind awhirl with the things he had just heard. Sirius was gone. Voldemort had killed him. And Voldemort wanted Harry dead, had wanted him dead since he was born, because of some stupid prophecy. And the dark lord would continue to try to kill him, and would succeed unless he killed him first.

Finally Harry found himself at the portrait hole into Gryffindor tower. As he climbed through and headed toward the stairs he was amazed to see Ron get up from a chair by the fire and hurry toward him.

"Harry, where have you been? We've been waiting here for you all evening."

"I'm sorry Ron, I just don't feel much like talking tonight." But as he turned away Ron caught him by the arm and turned him back.

"Harry, you can't just walk away like that. Hermione's been sitting here crying for hours after what you said to her."

"What?" Harry tried to recall the encounter in front of Dumbledore's office. He had been too upset about Sirius to talk and had just wanted to get away. Before he could remember what he had said Ron broke in.

"She thinks you blame her for Sirius getting killed." At Harry's disbelieving stare Ron continued. "You did say it was because of her that you told Sirius about your vision thing."

Harry slumped against the stairway with his head in his hands. How much worse could this night get? Now he had managed to drive away the person who meant more to him than anything. "Oh no. Now I guess she'll never want to have anything to do with me again."

"Geez, mate, how thick _are_ you? She's worried _you_ won't want to have anything to do with _her_. Now get over there and apologize to her already."

With trepidation Harry approached the sofa in front of the fire where Hermione sat. As he arrived she turned to face him. It broke his heart to see the fear in her tear-filled eyes as she looked up at him. It was a look he never wanted to see in her eyes again.

"Hermione I'm so sorry/Harry I'm so sorry," they began in unison. Before he knew it he was down on the sofa next to her hugging her and both of them were trying to apologize, each of them relieved that they had not lost the other. Eventually they calmed down and they sat there far into the night holding on to each other. And with the comfort he received from Hermione, the pain of Sirius's loss and the knowledge of the horrible burden he had to bear hurt a little bit less.

-----

During the week that followed Ron and Hermione tried to spend as much time with Harry as possible, supporting him any way they could. But they could both see that that he was still troubled by something even more than Sirius's death. He seemed to be acting like he had the weight of the whole world on his shoulders, and was withdrawing from them more than he ever had before. Of course Hermione wanted to talk to him about it, but Ron insisted that they leave him be, that he would tell them when he was ready. (During this period Harry had conversations with Nearly Headless Nick and Luna Lovegood.) Finally, after he didn't even show up for the leaving feast, Hermione pulled him aside when he finally came back to the common room. Harry knew he had to say something as he joined her on the sofa in front of the fire.

"Hermione, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the way you've tried to help me this past week," he began. "And I expect you've figured out that there's more that I haven't told you." Hermione nodded, but kept quiet. "Dumbledore told me something else that night that really shook me up. I promise I'll tell you about it eventually but right now I need to think about it some more and try to come to grips with it. Can you wait a bit more?"

Hermione snuggled up to him as he put his arm around her and thought for a moment. "OK, as long as you understand that you're not getting rid of me. Whatever this is I am going to be with you helping you all the way." She paused to look up at him. "Like I always have." He got the message. Hermione had been the one person who had never left him, who had supported him through everything that had happened to him.

"Hermione, believe me you are the last person I want to get rid of. I don't know what I'd do without you." He pulled her to himself even more tightly than before. "Trust me?"

"I trust you."

-----

_OOTP, Chapter 38_

_Scene: Kings Cross. The Hogwarts Express has returned and students are leaving with their families. Arthur, Remus, Tonks, Moody, and Hermione have just confronted the Dursleys and warned them about their treatment of Harry._

**Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbors would say if they caught sight of these people marching up the garden path. … **

(Moody, Lupin, and Mrs. Weasley say goodbye.)

"**We'll see you soon, mate," said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.**

"**Really soon, Harry," said Hermione earnestly. "We promise." **Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Unlike the previous year, when she had kissed him on the cheek, this one was directly on the lips. And it seemed to him that she was trying to make it intense enough to allow for the fact that they wouldn't see each other for weeks. Not that he was complaining. He could almost hear the Dursleys' jaws hitting the floor.

Finally they pulled apart and Harry noticed that her eyes were glistening. Unable to speak, he swallowed hard and nodded, first at her, then at the others. **He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around, and led the way out of the station toward the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.**

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A/N Some of you may have been surprised/disappointed to see that Sirius still died in this alternate version. It seems that many authors who write do-overs are motivated, at least in part, by the desire to keep him alive. As you might have guessed from my past stories, I try to do things differently than the norm. Note the irony - Harry does exactly the opposite thing this time from what he did last time, but Sirius dies anyway. And Harry still blames himself.


	4. Sixth Year, Part 1

**Disclaimer and Acknowledgements**

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. I get nothing out of this except enjoyment. Portions of the story in bold font are quotations from _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_, copyright © 2005 by J. K. Rowling.

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**Sixth Year, Part 1**

_HBP, Chapter 5_

_Scene: Harry has arrived at the Burrow, and told Ron and Hermione the prophecy. Hermione got punched in the eye by the telescope, and the three just received their OWL results._

The excitement of the OWL results had died down and Harry had returned to his room to finish unpacking. As he had hoped, a soft knock at the door indicated that Hermione had followed him up.

"Hey," he said, turning to her with a smile. "How are you doing? Is your eye OK?" Hermione turned away slightly in embarrassment, her hand going up to cover her black eye. Harry hurried over to her and gave her a hug. He hadn't meant to make her feel bad, but he realized now that she would be self-conscious about it. He tried again. "I missed you."

That brought a smile to her face. "I missed you too. But more importantly, how are _you_ doing?" Harry shrugged as she guided him over to the bed and they sat down together. He repeated what he had said to Dumbledore about realizing that he couldn't shut himself away, and how Dumbledore had said he should confide in his friends, as Hermione nodded approvingly.

"You don't know how relieved I was when you and Ron didn't run away when I told you the prophecy earlier," Harry admitted.

"Oh Harry," Hermione chided him while leaning her head on his shoulder and putting her arm around him. "What is it going to take to convince you that we're always going to stick by you?" He responded by putting his arm around her also and pulling her even closer, and they sat like that in comfortable silence for a while. Finally she spoke again and asked him if he was willing to talk more about the prophecy. Harry gave her more details about the revelations in Dumbledore's office several weeks earlier, and indulged her by reciting the exact wording, which he knew she would want to thoroughly analyze.

"So you have a power he doesn't know about?" she asked. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

"Dumbledore said it was love," he replied. Then he hesitated before continuing. "He said the reason I was able to throw him out of my head was because I thought of you."

"Oh. Oh my!" Hermione caught her breath while turning bright red as she realized what he had just told her. She turned to him with glistening eyes, her face glowing, and Harry found himself thinking that she had never looked more beautiful. His pulse rate went into overdrive as she captured his lips in a passionate kiss, intent on showing him just how much that revelation meant to her. When they eventually pulled apart neither could stop smiling and they sat cuddled together treasuring their new understanding.

Hearing a commotion outside, they realized someone would soon be up looking for them and they reluctantly rose to leave. As they left the room Harry realized that something was different about Hermione's fragrance. "You smell nice today," he observed. "Are you wearing a new perfume?"

"Oh, you think so? It's …" Hermione giggled, causing Harry to raise a questioning eyebrow. "Well never mind. If it inspires you like that I'll definitely keep it." She gave him a knowing smile as they descended the stairs and he returned it.

"There you are," called Ron as they came into the kitchen. "How about some quidditch? We can play two on two."

"Oh, I don't think so," began Hermione. "I can barely stay on a broom compared to the three of you." She stopped abruptly as she saw the eager look on Harry's face.

"Come on, Hermione. You and I can play against Ron and Ginny. I promise I won't make fun of you."

Hermione relented and was immediately glad she did as she realized how happy it made Harry. _And really_, she thought to herself, _considering I just essentially promised to follow him to his death if necessary, how bad can a little quidditch be?_

-----

_HBP, Chapter 9_

_Scene: Harry won the Felix Felicis in the first Potions class, and Hermione is miffed because of the extra tips he benefited from. She has just checked his Potions book for spells and Harry notices something scribbled on the back cover._

_**This Book is the Property of the Half-Blood Prince**_

By the end of dinner Harry was miserable. Hermione and Ginny were mad at him, and it was possible that Ron would get jealous again. The triumph of finally doing something well in Potions seemed rather hollow now. At least Ron hadn't thought he'd done anything wrong, though. But was being right worth losing Hermione's friendship? Glumly he packed up his books to leave the Great Hall and head back to the common room. As he passed Hermione she deliberately turned her back to him.

"So much for always sticking by me," he muttered dejectedly. Hermione's head snapped back as though she had been slapped, but Harry didn't notice as he made his way towards the massive doors. By the time he reached the Gryffindor common room he had made up his mind. Retrieving the bottle of Felix Felicis from his trunk he returned to the common room looking for Hermione. Spotting her sitting off by herself in the corner, he approached her quietly and held out the bottle.

"Here." Hermione looked up in surprise and he noticed that her eyes were red as if she had been crying. Before she could say anything he continued. "I realize that it's important to you to be the best in every class. I'm sorry for beating you in Potions today. You're loads better than me in Potions and I only won this because I had better instructions than you. It's not worth it to me if it costs me your friendship."

But instead of taking the potion from him Hermione buried her face in her hands and started sobbing. Not sure what to do, Harry put the potion bottle on the table in front of her and backed away. Before he could get too far he was brought to a halt by a heart wrenching cry.

"Harry!" He suddenly found himself holding a weeping Hermione in his arms as she buried her head in his chest. Carefully maneuvering her back to the couch, he sat down with her on his lap, rubbing her back until her sobbing subsided.

"Oh Harry I feel so awful. I can't believe I acted that way over a dumb potion. Of course you're more important to me than being best in the class. And you even told me what you were doing differently that was making your potion better, but my stupid pride wouldn't let me accept that you knew something I didn't. Can you ever forgive me?"

"After all the times you've forgiven me when I've done something stupid? Of course I forgive you." At this he felt Hermione relax in his arms and he gave her a squeeze along with a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Once she had settled down he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?" She nodded.

"This book seems to be loaded with helpful tips," he reasoned. "So far they seem to be really useful. And they weren't dangerous or anything, just simple adjustments like a slight difference in stirring or a different way of crushing the beans. How about if we look at them together and decide whether to use them? If you think one of the instructions will be dangerous we won't use it. You know a lot more about Potions than I do so I'll trust your judgment. What do you say?"

To his surprise, Hermione started crying again. But just as he was about to ask her to explain what was wrong with his suggestion she nodded her head in agreement. "Harry, I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me. After I was so horrible to you now you're being so reasonable about it. I don't think I deserve to be with someone as nice as you." Harry was silent for a few seconds. He didn't think he should agree with her but he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to disagree with her either, since they had just settled their last disagreement. Finally he replied, "Don't say that. I'd be lost without you." That apparently was OK since she responded with a big hug.

Once they had that sorted out they rearranged themselves with his arm around her while she snuggled up next to him. He decided to change to a more pleasant subject.

"So, what was the third thing you smelled in the Amortentia?"

Hermione lifted her head and smiled up at him. "What do you think?"

He smiled back. "Want to know what I smelled?" Hermione nodded her head. "I smelled treacle tart, a broomstick, and a scent I recognized from the Burrow. A perfume a certain girl was wearing this summer."

"Oh." Hermione had an embarrassed look on her face, which elicited a raised eyebrow from Harry. Hermione explained. "It's a good thing you told me you liked it then. Remember that day?" Harry smiled and nodded. "Well, that was the perfume Ron gave me for Christmas last year. It turns out Ginny helped him pick it out and she really liked it. I was going to give the rest to her, but when you told me how nice you thought it smelled I decided to keep it."

"Well," Harry teased, "it's a good thing you kept it. If you had given it to Ginny I might have thought it was her I was attracted to when I smelled it in the potion this morning."

Hermione punched his arm playfully. "Oh Harry, I really don't think it works that way," she scolded. "I mean, honestly, you're not going to suddenly realize one day that you're attracted to a girl that you've known for four years that you've never had any feelings for at all. That's just ridiculous!"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Soon the potion was forgotten as Hermione decided to reward him for the evening's revelations with a quick snog.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 10_

_Scene: Beginning of the chapter. General continuation of the end of the last scene._

Over the next few weeks they studied Harry's book carefully, and consistently found that the tips worked perfectly. Slughorn continued to **rave about Harry's potions abilities, saying he had rarely taught anyone so talented**, although now he included Hermione in the praise as well. They also found **directions for what looked like new spells that the Prince had made up himself**. These they were more leery of, so they decided to try them out on practice dummies in the Room of Requirement. Harry was very glad he had come to an agreement with Hermione about using the Half Blood Prince's tips or Potions class would have been quite unpleasant this year.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 11_

_Scene: Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts._

**Harry had deliberately left the trial of the Keepers until last.**  
** …**

**None of the first five applicants saved more than two goals apiece. To Harry's great disappointment, Cormac McLaggen saved** his first four penalties easily. Before the fifth shot, however he caught sight of Hermione out of the corner of his eye. Strangely, she seemed to be pointing her wand at McLaggen.

"Wait," he shouted, flying up to where Ginny prepared to take the next shot. Thinking fast he said, "Ginny, let Katie take the last one. And let's make sure it's exactly the same for Ron. Katie will take two shots, Demelza two, and you one." Ginny nodded and tossed the quaffle to Katie, realizing that Harry was trying to make it as fair as possible.

While she was doing that, Harry caught Hermione's eye and shook his head slightly. Embarrassed, Hermione quickly broke eye contact and looked away guiltily. McLaggen saved the fifth penalty also and swaggered as he returned to the ground.

**Ron looked ready to pass out as he mounted his Cleansweep Eleven.**  
** …**

**Yet he need not have worried: Ron saved one, two, three, four, five penalties in a row. **Now Harry had a difficult decision to make. But he had come up with what he thought would be a good compromise. "OK," he announced, "Ron and Cormac are clearly the best keepers we have, and seem pretty evenly matched. We could stay out here until one of them missed, but I don't want the position to possibly be decided by one lucky shot. So both of you are on the team. Since Ron is the incumbent, he's the starting Keeper unless Cormac clearly beats him out in practice, or if he gets hurt, or if he's having a bad game. Same thing if Cormac ever wins the starting position. I'll name a reserve Beater and a reserve Chaser too, in case one of them gets injured. Ginny will be the reserve Seeker."

McLaggen was clearly unhappy with this decision, **but he contented himself with an ugly grimace and stormed away, growling what sounded like threats to thin air.** Ron was not thrilled either, but before he could say anything Hermione exclaimed, "Great idea, Harry. That's obviously the fairest way to do it." After that Ron shrugged, then straightened up and grinned and began explaining the details of all his saves to anyone who would listen as they all walked back.

-----

**As they came into the castle they spotted Cormac McLaggen entering the Great Hall …**

**Harry caught Hermione's arm and held her back.**

"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered, immediately knowing what was on Harry's mind. "It would have been wrong, I know it. **But you should have heard the way he was talking about Ron and Ginny!** I was sure you **wouldn't have wanted someone like that on the team."**

"What were you going to do?"

"Confundus charm," she admitted. "But I should have trusted that you'd make a good decision." She looked up at him proudly. "And you did. That was brilliant." She reached up and gave him a kiss.

"**What are you two doing?" demanded Ron, reappearing in the doorway to the Great Hall and looking suspicious."**

"**Nothing," said Harry and Hermione together …**

-----

_HBP, Chapter 11_

_Scene: Ron read in the _Daily Prophet_ about the raid on Malfoy Manor, and Harry has just revealed his suspicions that Malfoy brought some dark object to Hogwarts. Hermione points out that all the students were searched as they arrived and owls are also being checked._

**Harry found nothing else to say. There did not seem to be any way Malfoy could have brought a dangerous or Dark object into the school. He looked hopefully at Ron, who was sitting with his arms folded, staring over at Lavender Brown.**

"**Can you think of any way Malfoy …?"**

"**Oh, drop it, Harry," said Ron.**

"**Listen, it's not my fault Slughorn invited Hermione and me to his stupid party, neither of us wanted to go, you know!" said Harry, firing up.**

"**Well, as I'm not invited to any parties," said Ron, getting to his feet again, "I think I'll go to bed." He stomped off toward the door to the boys' dormitories, leaving Harry and Hermione staring after him.**

"Harry," Hermione began hesitantly. "I believe you about Malfoy. I can't see how he could have done it, but I'll keep trying to help you figure it out. Perhaps he hid it in Hogsmeade or something."

Harry reached out and took her hand and gave it a grateful squeeze. "Thanks Hermione."

-----

_HBP, Chapter 12_

_Scene: The day of the first Hogsmeade visit of the term._

**Harry woke early on the morning of the trip**, and hurried down to the common room to meet Hermione. They frequently spent mornings reading his copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ together. **The more **they** pored over the book, the more **they** realized how much was in there, not only the handy hints and shortcuts on potions but the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins …** Hermione always insisted, and Harry grudgingly agreed that she was right, that they carefully determine exactly what each hex did before trying it out on anyone. Perhaps the most useful one so far had been **Muffliato, a spell that filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing, so that lengthy conversations could be held in class without being overheard.** Hermione did not approve of this particular use, and refused to talk to him at all if Harry used it during class.

This morning they were going to experiment with a new spell. Hermione had determined that it was some kind of levitation spell, and so would be safe to practice in the common room. Crammed into one corner of one of the pages was scribbled:

_**Levicorpus (nvb)**_

**Harry rather doubted he would be able to bring off this particular spell; he was still having difficulty with nonverbal spells.** But once Hermione had mastered it she encouraged him to give it a try. **Pointing his wand** at the doorway to the boys' dormitory, **he gave it an upward flick and said _Levicorpus!_ inside his head.**

"**Aaaaaaaargh!"**

**Ron was dangling upside down in midair as though an invisible hook had hoisted him up by the ankle. **Harry had apparently caught him just as he came through the opening. **"Sorry!" yelled Harry **as the other occupants of the common room roared with laughter. Hermione grabbed the potion book and found the counter-jinx underneath the original spell. She pushed the book in front of him and **Harry thought _Liberacorpus!_ with all his might. There was another flash of light and Ron fell in a heap onto the floor**  
** …**

"**My dad," said Harry. He had only just remembered.**

"**What?" said Ron and Hermione together.**

"**My dad used this spell," said Harry. "I … Lupin told me."** He looked pointedly at Hermione and she realized what he was remembering. He had told no one but her about what he had seen in Snape's pensieve. And it had bothered him greatly, she knew, seeing his father act like such a jerk. But now another thought presented itself. **Could the Half-Blood Prince possibly be …?** But no, that didn't make any sense. James Potter was a pureblood. Evidently the use of this spell wasn't limited to one individual. Then she thought of another time she had seen it.

"**Maybe your dad did use it, Harry," said Hermione, "but he's not the only one."** She went on to remind him about the behavior of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Now it didn't seem like such a humorous spell any longer. They launched into a long discussion about the possible identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the end of which left them no farther along toward working out his identity than they had been before they started.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 14_

_Scene: Takes place before the first scene in the chapter. Slughorn is still trying to get Harry to come to one of his parties._

"So how was Slughorn's party?" Harry asked Hermione before breakfast the following morning. Hermione looked around and pulled him close.

"I'll fill you in later, but I have to tell you this first. **Slughorn's going to have a Christmas party, Harry, and there's no way you'll be able to wriggle out of this one because he actually asked me to check your free evenings, so he could be sure to have it on a night you can come.**"

Harry groaned, then sighed. If there was no way out of it he might as well go. And going to a Christmas party with Hermione wouldn't really be so bad. But Hermione continued. "We're allowed to bring guests. But I thought, well …" She looked at him expectantly and smiled. Certainly they would attend as a couple. Harry was about to acknowledge her assumption when a different thought occurred to him.

"Hermione? What do you think about the possibility of you taking Ron as your guest? You know, just as friends." Hermione had a startled look at this suggestion, then a thoughtful expression replaced it. "You know how he's been feeling left out and …"

Before he could finish he found himself caught up in a hug. "Harry, that's a great idea! You are so considerate sometimes." She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I think Ron is very lucky to have a friend like you. I'll ask him in Herbology this morning." Then she went silent for a bit and a slight blush appeared on her face. She looked up to see Harry give her a questioning look. "I was just thinking. I need to make it clear that it's just as friends, though."

"Oh?"

"I … I think maybe Ron fancies me a bit. I've had that feeling since last year." At Harry's questioning look she pointed out, "He did give me that perfume for Christmas." Harry frowned at this.

"Well, in that case, you'd better make it very clear. You're mine and I don't intend to let you go." He punctuated this declaration with another squeeze. Finally they pulled apart and resumed their walk toward the Great Hall.

"So, who do you think you might ask as your guest?" Hermione asked just before they entered the room.

Harry shrugged. He would have to think about that. Whoever he asked, he'd need to make sure she also knew it was just as friends. Perhaps Ginny.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 14_

_Scene: Hermione asked Ron to the party. They have just finished another disastrous Quidditch practice. Harry and Ron are on their way back to Gryffindor Tower._

**When Harry pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut to Gryffindor Tower, however, they found themselves looking at Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.**

Harry was distinctly uncomfortable at this rather graphic evidence that his best friend's kid sister, who was something of a sister to him as well, was not a little girl any more. Ron obviously had much the same thought.

"**Oi!" Dean and Ginny broke apart and looked around.**

"**What?" said Ginny.**

"**I don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!"**

Harry thought he couldn't have put it better himself. But Ginny obviously had different thoughts on the matter. (A shouting match broke out which soon got personal.)** …**

"**Been kissing Pigwidgeon, have you? Or have you got a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow?"**

"**You …" A streak of orange light flew under Harry's left arm and missed Ginny by inches; Harry pushed Ron up against the wall.**

"**Don't be stupid …"**

"Harry and Hermione have snogged loads of times," **shouted Ginny, who was close to tears. "It's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!" And with that she stormed away.**  
** …**

Ron was still furious as they entered Gryffindor Tower. For his part, Harry was picturing himself and Hermione in that deserted corridor instead … he was dismayed as **he saw Ron ripping open the tapestry curtain and drawing his wand on Harry, shouting things like "betrayal of trust" … "supposed to be my friend" …**

"Do you and Hermione really snog?" **Ron asked abruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady. Harry gave a guilty start and wrenched his imagination away from a corridor in which no Ron intruded, in which he and **Hermione** were quite alone …**

"What?" he said nervously. "Oh … er …" Then he gathered up his courage. He needed to be honest with his best friend. "Ron," he said, trying to sound reasonable. "We've been going together for almost a year." From the look on Ron's face, it was clear that he understood Harry's implication.

"**Dillisgrout," Ron said darkly to the Fat Lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole into the common room. Neither of them mentioned Ginny or Hermione again; indeed, they barely spoke to each other that evening and got into bed in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts.**

**Harry lay awake for a long time, looking up at the canopy of his four-poster bed** and thinking about what he had seen Ginny doing with Dean. He and Hermione had never made out in such an intimate fashion, and they had been together much longer than Ginny and Dean. He worried that Ginny was getting too experienced for her own good. He didn't want her to get a reputation. On this point he was in perfect agreement with Ron. **He punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape and waited for sleep to come, **trying to quit worrying about Ginny and turn his thoughts to pleasant ones about Hermione.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 14_

_Scene: The morning of the first Quidditch match. Harry and Ron are at breakfast._

Hermione came up to the table as Harry was pouring some juice. **"How are you both feeling?" she asked tentatively, her eyes on the back of Ron's head.**

"**Fine," said Harry, who was concentrating on handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "There you go, Ron. Drink up."**

**Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply. "Don't drink that, Ron!"**

(A heated exchange ensued.)

**She looked scandalized. Bending low so that only Harry could hear her, she hissed, "you **could** be expelled for that. I'd never have believed it of you, Harry!"**

"Hermione," he whispered back. "Trust me. Please?" Hermione stared at him wide-eyed. He held her gaze, silently pleading with her to have faith in him. Gradually her expression changed to one of uncertainty, then hopefulness.

"You'll explain later?" she whispered imploringly.

"I promise," he replied, still in a whisper, as he tried to make his eyes show his gratitude.

Hermione straightened up and moved up the table away from them. Harry watched her go, grateful that she was so understanding. She knew how important quidditch was to them, but he didn't want her thinking he would compromise his principles for a victory.

-----

_Scene: After the Quidditch match._

**Ron and Harry were the last two in the changing room. They were just about to leave when Hermione entered. She was twisting her Gryffindor scarf in her hands **and looked anxiously at Harry. "So what did you do, Harry?" she asked expectantly, hoping he had a good answer.

"**What are you going to do, turn us in?" demanded Ron.**

(Harry revealed his deception with pretending to put Felix Felicis to Ron's pumpkin juice. But Ron took exception to Hermione's thinking he needed the help, and stormed out.)

"**Er," said Harry into the sudden silence; he had not expected his plan to backfire like this. "Shall … shall we go up to the party, then?"**

"Just a minute," said Hermione blinking back tears. "I need to talk to you first." She walked up to Harry and put her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. "I don't know why Ron's been so cross with me lately, but I want to tell you how brilliant your plan was today. You found a way to get Ron to play better and you didn't need to cheat to do it. But," she said, looking at him sternly, "you should have told me sooner. I was really worried. It scared me, not knowing what to think, not knowing what you were doing."

"I'm sorry Hermione," Harry said contritely. "You're right. I should have told you what I was doing and trusted that you'd support my idea instead of trying to sneak it by you." She nodded and hugged him again, satisfied that he understood and glad that things had worked out. "So," he prompted again, "shall we go up now?"

"You go ahead. I'll be along in a bit." They left the changing room together and Harry gave her hand a squeeze before they parted and he headed toward the party in the common room.

-----

_Scene: At the party after the Quidditch match. Ron is snogging Lavender._

**Harry turned away from Ron, who did not look like he would be surfacing soon, just as the portrait hole was closing.** As he looked in that direction, **he thought he spotted a mane of bushy hair disappear out of sight.**

**He darted forward, sidestepped Romilda Vane again, and pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady. The corridor outside seemed to be deserted.**

"**Hermione?"**

**He found her in the first unlocked classroom he tried. She was sitting on the teacher's desk, alone except for a small ring of twittering yellow birds circling her head, which she had clearly just conjured out of midair. Harry could not help admiring her spellwork at a time like this.**

"**Oh, hello, Harry," she said in a brittle voice. "I was just practicing."**

"Hermione?" Harry asked. "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?"

"**Don't pretend you didn't see him," said Hermione. "He wasn't exactly hiding it, was he?"**

"Ron and Lavender?" he asked, crossing the room toward her. "Yeah, I saw them. I know they were making quite a spectacle, but why does that bother you so much?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just being silly but … well he supposedly fancied me and now he's all over her. Honestly Harry, can you think of any girl less like me? And I just invited him to Slughorn's Christmas party and now he's snogging her right in the middle of the common room. It's so embarrassing!"

By now Harry had put his arms around her and she was in tears, clinging to him. But something about what she had just said bothered him. "Hermione," he asked nervously, "do you fancy Ron?"

"Do I …? Oh, Harry no!" Hermione pulled her head back and looked up at him in alarm. "No, don't even think that. I'm so sorry if I gave you that impression. Please believe me." She wrapped her arms tightly around him as though to prevent him from getting away. "You're the only guy for me, Harry."

Harry let go a great sigh of relief. "I believe you, I believe you. It's just that since you were so upset from seeing him with Lavender I wondered …"

"Well," Hermione admitted, "there is something else too." She looked back up at him again, drying her eyes. "We've been so careful not to go overboard in front of him in order to spare his feelings, but now there he is practically sucking her face off with no consideration about how it might make me feel. I guess I'm a little jealous too, that you've never kissed me like that."

Harry was somewhat startled by this admission, but soon recovered. Given the obvious invitation he had just received, he decided to act on it. "Well, I think we can fix that rather easily." He promptly caught her lips with his and they proceeded to engage in the most passionate kiss they had ever experienced, with their bodies melded together so tightly that Harry wasn't sure where he ended and Hermione began.

**The door behind them burst open. To Harry's horror, Ron came in, laughing, pulling Lavender by the hand. "Oh," he said, drawing up short at the sight of Harry and Hermione.** He stared at the two of them in disgust but they just ignored him, just as he had ignored everyone in the common room just minutes ago. After all, _they_ had been alone in a secluded classroom. Lavender noticed Ron's annoyance and pulled him away in irritation. The door swung shut behind them.

Hermione giggled once she had caught her breath when she and Harry finally pulled apart. "It's a good thing you were here to calm me down. Otherwise I might have set these birds to attack him if he had burst in on me like that when I was here alone."

"Really, you can do that?" Harry asked.

"Sure, watch." Hermione pointed out a cushion on the floor on the other side of the room. _"Oppugno!"_ Harry watched in fascination as the birds that had been circling the whole while suddenly attacked the cushion, tearing it to shreds. He was certainly glad that Hermione wasn't mad at _him_.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 15_

_Scene: A couple of weeks after the Quidditch match. Harry and Hermione are studying in the library._

The next few weeks were quite a challenge to keep everyone on speaking terms. Ginny was still mad at Ron. Ron was mad at Ginny and Hermione, and to a lesser extent Dean and Harry. Hermione was still annoyed with Ron for choosing Lavender. And, once Lavender heard that Ron was still going to Slughorn's party with Hermione, _she_ got mad at Hermione.

For Harry eventually was able to persuade Ron and Hermione that he needed for them all to get along if he was going to survive the year with his sanity intact, and the two of them finally agreed that they would still attend Slughorn's party as friends. Hermione jokingly suggested that she might have had to ask McLaggen if Ron hadn't come around, which made both Harry and Ron shudder in disgust.

To make matters worse, the Hogwarts girls had discovered that Harry was looking for a date for the party. Hermione informed him of this fact while they were in the library working on essays.

"**You need to be careful,**" she had told him with concern. **"I went into the girls' bathroom just before I came in here and there were about a dozen girls in there, including that Romilda Vane, trying to decide how to slip you a love potion."** She noted worriedly that they seemed to have bought Fred and George's love potions, which she was afraid to say probably worked. She assured him that she would confiscate any love potions she found, but that the other girls were careful not to let her catch them with any, since they new she and Harry were together.

"**But I thought all the owls were being searched," **Harry pointed out. **"So how come these girls are able to bring love potions into school?"**

**Fred and George send them disguised as perfumes and cough potions," said Hermione. "It's part of their Owl Order Service."** She explained that she had learned about this at the twins' shop during the summer.

"**Yeah, well, never mind that," said Harry quickly. The point is, Filch is being fooled, isn't he? These girls are getting stuff into the school disguised as something else! So why couldn't Malfoy have brought the necklace into the school …"**

Hermione looked at him sympathetically. "Sorry, Harry, that's different. **"Secrecy Sensors detect jinxes, curses, and concealment charms. They'd have picked up a powerful curse, like the one on the necklace, within seconds. **But a simple potion wouldn't register. Nice try though," she finished, patting his arm. "But remember, Katie got the necklace in Hogsmeade. Malfoy wouldn't have needed to bring it to the castle. I still think he's hiding whatever he's doing in town. Perhaps he has an accomplice there."

"Yeah," mused Harry. "He doesn't ever seem to be around anymore. I was thinking that might mean he was sneaking off to Hogsmeade." This line of reasoning was abruptly ended when Madam Pince appeared and shooed them from the library.

-----

The Transfiguration lesson the next day provided some much needed comic relief. **They had just embarked upon the immensely difficult topic of human Transfiguration; working in front of mirrors, they were supposed to be changing the color of their own eyebrows. **OnRon's first attempt **he somehow managed to give himself a spectacular handlebar mustache**, which had Harry and Hermione laughing uproariously. Ron scowled at them at first, but Lavender and Parvati's giggles forced him to admit that it _was_ rather comical. Harry and Hermione were still chuckling about it when they left class. On the floor below they encountered Luna Lovegood.

"**Oh, hello, Harry," said Luna. "Did you know one of your eyebrows is bright yellow?"**

"**Hi, Luna,"** Harry replied, smiling. **Luna was demonstrating her usual **bluntness**; he had never met anyone quite like her. "So, have you had a good term?"**

"**Oh, it's been all right," said Luna. "A bit lonely without the D.A. Ginny's been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me 'Loony' the other day …"**

"**How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?"**

Hermione shot him a startled look, then smiled and nodded as she thought more about it. Luna was certainly a girl who would be happy to go with Harry as 'just friends'. Seeing the approval on Hermione's face made Harry confident that he had done the right thing.

**Luna **first glanced at Hermione, then **turned her protuberant eyes upon him in surprise.**

"**Slughorn's party? With you?" …**

-----

_Scene: At Slughorn's party – Harry and Luna have been struggling to get away from Slughorn and his friends._

"**I've just seen a friend of mine, sorry." He pulled Luna after him into the crowd; he had indeed just seen a long mane of brown hair disappear between what looked like two members of the Weird Sisters.**

"**Hermione! Hermione!"**

"**Harry! There you are, thank goodness! Hi Luna!"**

"**What's happened to you?" asked Harry, for Hermione looked distinctly disheveled …**

"Ron just discovered the mistletoe," Hermione grimaced. "I thought a quick friendly kiss would be sufficient, but he seemed to have other ideas. Apparently he doesn't realize that there are other ways of kissing a girl besides the face sucking he does with Lavender," she said in disgust. "I let him know he was mistaken." Harry glared back in the direction from which she had come, feeling an urge to go rearrange Ron's face, but Hermione pulled him the other way and continued, now with a somewhat satisfied expression. "Come on, it will take a little while for the hex to wear off." Harry shuddered a little at this, thinking about how many different hexes Hermione knew, and wondering which one she had chosen for Ron's 'education'.

**The three of them made their way over to the other side of the room, scooping up goblets of mead on the way, realizing too late that Professor Trelawny was standing there alone.**  
**…**

(Later on at the party.) "Oh no, here comes Ron again." Hermione tried to move away but Harry caught her by the arm and gave her a look that let her know that they needed to work this out as friends instead of avoiding Ron for the rest of the night.

Ron was properly contrite when he caught up with them, apologizing to both Hermione and Harry. It also seemed that he had had a bit too much to drink. Harry was somewhat concerned that Ron still had a 'thing' for Hermione, but faced with Ron's heartfelt apology, had no choice but to let it go. The whole mistletoe incident had given him an idea though.

"Luna," he said, bringing her into the conversation. "Would you be willing to keep Ron company for a while? I'd like to have Hermione demonstrate the proper use of mistletoe for me." Hermione turned bright red at this, but did not object, and a happy look appeared on her face.

Luna smiled at him and nodded, then turned to Ron. "Of course, I'd love to. Hello Ronald. Did you know that mistletoe is sometimes infested with Nargles? Perhaps you can show me the particular plant that you encountered and we can inspect it together. Harry couldn't help laughing at the stunned look on Ron's face as Luna dragged him off, but quickly turned his thoughts to his and Hermione's own plans for the use of mistletoe.

-----

When Harry and Hermione returned from their mistletoe inspection, Hermione looking even more disheveled than she had before (much to Harry's satisfaction), they saw Filch, Snape, Slughorn, and Malfoy clustered together. It appeared that Filch had caught Malfoy sneaking in, and the aged caretaker did not seem to be too happy that the blonde Slytherin was about to go unpunished. The two Gryffindors crept closer to listen, taking care to keep out of sight behind a crowd of boisterous wizards.

"**I'd like a word with you, Draco," said Snape suddenly.** Harry and Hermione shared a look, both knowing that they would follow the pair of Slytherins to try to find out what Draco was up to.

**It was easy, once out of the party, to pull his Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket and throw it over** Hermione and **himself, for the corridor was quite deserted …**

They** pressed **their **ears against door after door as **they** dashed down the corridor until, with a great jolt of excitement, **they** crouched down to the keyhole of the last classroom in the corridor and heard voices.**  
**…**

(Continues on with the scene where Snape confronts Draco about what he's doing.)

-----

Later, Harry and Hermione huddled in the Gryffindor common room, exitedly discussing what they had overheard. Ron had been in no shape to engage in any kind of discussion, after the combination of Luna and the alcohol he had consumed, and had stumbled off to bed.

They both agreed that Malfoy was definitely up to something, probably on the orders of Voldemort, but possibly a task from his father. Harry was sure now that Malfoy had taken the dark mark, and Hermione no longer attempted to dispute this. She even pointed out that Snape had made a reference to Malfoy learning Occlumency from Bellatrix. The new information was that Snape knew that he was up to something, but didn't know what it was, and shockingly was trying to help him with it. Harry was once again convinced that Snape was betraying Dumbledore, and Hermione wouldn't dispute this either. They agreed that over the holidays she would try to find out more about the Unbreakable Vow and he would try to warn some of the members of the Order about Snape.

Once they had made their plans they both sat back and sighed, thinking about the holidays to come. It suddenly occurred to Harry that he was really going to miss Hermione for the next few weeks, and apparently the same thought crossed her mind. With a sly smile she turned to him.

"Harry, I think there might be some more mistletoe over by the fireplace that we haven't thoroughly examined yet."

Harry didn't think that there could possibly be a better way to end the evening.

---------------

A/N Some readers have wondered if they have any memories of the 'first time'. No, as far as they are all concerned, this is the only time they have gone through these events.


	5. Sixth Year, Part 2

**Disclaimer and Acknowledgements**

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling. I get nothing out of this except enjoyment. Portions of the story in bold font are quotations from _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_, copyright © 2005 by J. K. Rowling.

---------------

**Sixth Year, Part 2**

_HBP, Chapter 18_

_Scene: Harry is telling Hermione about Horcruxes and his assignment to get Slughorn's true memory about his conversation with Tom Riddle regarding them._

"**They must be really advanced Dark Magic, or why would Voldemort have wanted to know about them? I think it's going to be difficult to get the information, Harry, you'll have to very careful about how you approach Slughorn, think out a strategy …"**

"**Ron reckons I should just hang back after Potions this afternoon …"**

"**Oh, well, if _Won-Won_ thinks that, you'd better do it," she said, flaring up at once. "After all, when _has Won-Won's_ judgement ever been faulty?"**

Harry winced. Hermione was right again, of course. He knew things had generally gone better for him in the past when he had listened to Hermione rather than Ron. **"Hermione, can't you …?"**

Hermione grudgingly agreed to try harder to get along with Ron. She was still unhappy with him over his actions at Slughorn's party, on top of her disapproval of his relationship with Lavender, but remembered that she needed to tolerate him for Harry's sake. In Potions class that day she made sure that she was on the opposite side of Harry from him, in order to keep herself from getting annoyed by any comments he might make.  
**…**

"… **and so," finished Slughorn, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves."**  
**…**

"**It's a shame that the Prince won't be able to help you much with this Harry," she said, **struggling to keep a look of sympathy on her face. Harry realized that she was right, and that she was eagerly looking forward to the task where her superior understanding of the subject would be far more important than a few tips on procedure. He also recognized her internal struggle.

"I guess you'll just have to show us how it's done then," he leaned over and murmured to her, while reaching out to give her hand a squeeze. She smiled back appreciatively and went to work.

Since he had been reading the Potions book with Hermione all year, Harry had some idea of what he was supposed to do, but had no illusions about his ability to actually do it. **He uncorked the poison he had taken from Slughorn's desk, which was a garish shade of pink, tipped it into his cauldron, and lit a fire underneath it.** He muttered the first incantation, _Specialis Revelio_, over his cauldron and attempted to identify the components of the poison.

**It took Harry only five minutes to realize that his reputation as the best potion-maker in the class was crashing around his ears.** He watched admiringly as Hermione decanted the **separated ingredients of her poison into ten different crystal phials** and gave up any hope of matching her on this assignment. **He bent over the Half-Blood Prince's book and turned a few pages.**

**And there it was, scrawled right across a long list of antidotes:**

_**Just shove a bezoar down their throats.**_

**…**

**Slughorn reached their table at last. He sniffed Ernie's potion and passed on to Ron's with a grimace. He did not linger over Ron's cauldron, but backed away swiftly, retching slightly. "And you, Harry," he said. "What have you got to show me?"**

**Harry held out his hand, the bezoar sitting on his palm. Slughorn looked down at it for a full ten seconds. Harry wondered, for a moment, whether he was going to shout at him. Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter.**

"**You've got nerve, boy!" he boomed, taking the bezoar and holding it up so that the class could see it. "Oh, you're like your mother … Well, I can't fault you … A bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these poisons!"**

**Hermione, who was sweaty-faced and had soot on her nose, **was crushed.** Her half-finished antidote, comprising fifty-two ingredients, including a chunk of her own hair, bubbled sluggishly behind Slughorn, who had eyes for nobody but Harry.**

"Professor Slughorn," Harry interrupted the enthusiastic potions master. "Don't forget to look at Hermione's antidote. She actually did the assignment. My method was only a last resort, a shortcut, so I didn't have to mix anything. She put a lot more work into her potion than I did."

Slughorn looked at him strangely, not understanding why Harry would want to deflect credit from himself, then moved on to inspect Hermione's cauldron. Harry caught the look of intense gratitude Hermione sent his way and a warm feeling spread through him.

"Yes, Miss Granger, very nice work." Slughorn noted as he peered at the bubbling mixture. "Well done. Ten more points for Gryffindor," he announced as the bell rang, and **he waddled back to his desk at the front of the room. **

**Harry dawdled behind, taking an inordinate amount of time to do up his bag. ** Hermione gave Harry a quick hug and wished him luck, and Ron shot him a thumbs-up as they both left. **At last Harry and Slughorn were the only two left in the room …**

-----

_HBP, Chapter 19_

_Scene: Harry and Hermione have just returned to Gryffindor Tower from visiting Ron in the infirmary after the poisoning incident._

**The Fat Lady was snoozing and not pleased to be woken, but swung forward grumpily to allow them to clamber into the mercifully peaceful and empty common room. It did not seem that people knew about Ron yet; Harry was very relieved: He had been interrogated enough that day.** Suddenly Hermione threw herself into his arms, shaking with emotion as her eyes teared up. Harry was not entirely surprised. She had been maintaining her composure since they left the hospital wing, but he could tell it had been a struggle.

"Oh Harry! What if he had died!" she sobbed. "He's one of my best friends and we haven't been getting along lately and …" She trailed off as Harry hugged her tightly and patted her back, trying to comfort her. "And then he called out my name in his sleep," she sniffed, her sobs starting to come under control.

"He's probably as upset about this quarrel as you are," Harry reassured her. "I'm sure he wants to go back to being friends again." This elicited a fresh round of tears from Hermione. Gradually she calmed down and they talked a bit more, with Hermione resolving to put her differences with Ron aside. Then they began to discuss what they had learned.

"I'm more certain than ever that Malfoy is behind this," Harry declared as Hermione nodded in agreement. "But I can't figure out what he's trying to do. Is he just trying to kill someone or is there more to it than that? Right before Ron ate those spiked chocolate cauldrons I was looking for him on the Marauder's Map and …" He paused as he noticed that Hermione had gone rigid.

"Harry! What if he's trying to kill _you_!" she gasped. Harry's eyes went wide as she continued. "Somehow he gave Katie that cursed necklace and Slughorn that poisoned mead. What if he meant for them to give them to you?" Harry frowned as he considered this possibility and shook his head as he thought back over the two incidents.

"I can see how Katie might have given me the necklace. I remember Leanne saying that she told her it was for someone else. But Slughorn said he had meant to give the last bottle of mead to Dumbledore for Christmas. It doesn't seem very likely that it was intended for me. It was only by chance that Ron and I happened to be in his office this morning and he decided to offer some to us." He shuddered as he recalled that he had been about to drink the mead when Ron started convulsing. It could have been any of the three of them who drank it first.

This revelation did nothing to calm Hermione down and she made him promise to be careful around both Malfoy and Snape, and promised in turn to help him keep an eye on them. Then, after a final hug, **she bade him good night and set off for the girls' dormitory. Harry, however, remained behind, taking a seat beside the fire and looking down into the dying embers. **

-----

_HBP, Chapter 21_

_Scene: Dumbledore has once again stressed to Harry the importance of getting the memory from Slughorn, and that they cannot proceed until he does._

**Harry wracked his brains over the next week as to how he was to persuade Slughorn to hand over the true memory, but nothing in the nature of a brain wave occurred and he was reduced to doing what he did increasingly these days when at a loss: poring over his Potions book, hoping that the Prince would have scribbled something useful in a margin, as he had done so many times before.**

"**I don't think you'll find anything in there," Hermione said** sympathetically, late on Sunday evening. "That book has mostly potions or spells."

"Well," Harry said looking up hopefully, "**if it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron wouldn't be sitting here now."**

"I can't argue with that," Hermione smiled. "Thank goodness you remembered the bezoar." She moved up behind Ron and gave him a hug, causing her tall friend to turn red. Things had improved greatly between the pair since that frightening incident. "But," she resumed, turning back to Harry, **"There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal …"**

"**Yeah, I know that," **Harry said, explaining his reasoning, **"That's why I'm looking for something different. Dumbledore says Veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or a spell."**

"I see what you're thinking," responded Hermione, moving up beside him. "But from what Dumbledore said, **only you can get the memory**. I'm thinking **that must mean that you can persuade Slughorn where other people can't. That wouldn't be a question of slipping him a potion, anyone could do that …"** She stopped abruptly as she noticed Harry staring at something on the page.

**He had just found an incantation ("Sectumsempra!") scrawled in a margin above the intriguing words "For Enemies"** and immediately showed it to Hermione.

"Harry, that sounds dangerous," she whispered, their disagreement temporarily forgotten. "Promise me you won't try using it until we get a chance to test it out in the Room of Requirement." Harry quickly agreed.

**"How d'you spell 'belligerent'? said Ron …**

-----

Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the seventh floor corridor cautiously, but found no sign of Malfoy or either of the two 'little girls' (Crabbe and Goyle) standing watch outside. Quickly they summoned the Room of Requirement for themselves and entered. Looking around they found it exactly as they expected, a room to practice spells in, with no sign that Malfoy had ever been there. "Wish it was this easy when I was trying to get in before," Harry muttered. Suddenly Hermione stopped and slapped her forehead.

"Of course! I've been so stupid." There was no way Harry was going to agree with that statement, so he waited for her to continue. "There's no way you'll ever get in to see what Malfoy's doing, Harry. It's part of the room's magic. We asked for a place to practice spells where no one would find us and that's what it gave us. He probably asked for a place to do whatever he's doing in secret, where no one would find him, and that's exactly what _he_ got. It becomes something different for everyone. And it won't ever let you find him."

"But what about last year, then? He found us."

"If you remember, he and Umbridge only found us after we ran from the room. I'm willing to bet that if we'd stayed inside they wouldn't have been able to get in either. They only caught us because we panicked and ran out."

Harry groaned. That had been the incident that had gotten Dumbledore run out of the castle. But, he realized, Umbridge and Fudge were determined to get the headmaster out of the way, and would probably have found some other way to do it.

Hermione continued, "The only way you'd catch him is if you're here when he comes out, just like _they_ were last year." Then she frowned at him. "And I don't think that's the best use of your time right now." Harry grimaced. This had started to become a sore point between them. She was sure he if he tried hard enough or spent enough time thinking about it, he could figure out a way to get the memory from Slughorn.

Ron stepped in before the pair could resume that argument. "I thought we came here to test out a spell." Harry turned to him and nodded, glad for the interruption. He pulled out the Potions book while Hermione conjured a practice dummy.

"Sectumsempra!" 

The three of them stood and stared at the deep gash that had been carved across the face and chest of the practice dummy. They all shuddered as they thought about what it would look like if that had been a real person.

"Bloody hell!" was Ron's rather apt contribution.

"Harry, I don't think you should use that spell on anyone," Hermione added in a small voice.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Harry agreed quietly.

-----

_HBP, Chapter 24_

_Scene: _Harry and Malfoy are confronting each other in the bathroom.

**There was a loud bang and the bin behind Harry exploded; Harry attempted a Leg-Locker Curse that backfired off the wall behind Malfoy's ear and smashed the cistern beneath Moaning Myrtle, who screamed loudly; water poured everywhere and Harry slipped as Malfoy, his face contorted, cried _"Cruci …"_**

Between the time Malfoy began his curse and finished it, the thought raced through Harry's mind that if there was ever a time that he needed a curse 'for an enemy' this was it. But as he began the incantation _"Sect …"_ his mind flashed to the horrible slash on the face and chest of the practice dummy and he recalled his assurance to Hermione.

"_Crucio!"_ Malfoy finished. He seemed to be under no such restraint with _his_ curses. Fortunately, in his rage his aim was off and Harry just barely rolled under the Unforgivable Curse.

"Reducto!" Harry returned the explosion hex Malfoy had used earlier, and although Malfoy was able to evade it, the wall behind him exploded and the mirror shattered. A chunk of wall caught him in the back of the head and shards of glass slashed through his robes, opening several gashes in his back. He staggered forward **and collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.**

"**No!" gasped Harry. Slipping and staggering, Harry got to his feet and plunged toward Malfoy, his hands scrabbling at his blood-soaked** back.  
**…**

**The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; now the wounds seemed to be knitting.**  
**…**

"**And you, Potter … **two months detention for nearly killing another student. Every Saturday."

"But he attacked me!" Harry shouted in disbelief. "He even used an un…" 

"I'm not interested in your excuses, Potter," Snape interrupted. "Because of you a student almost died. Rather a habit of yours isn't it?" Snape sneered as he added this last insult and waited, seemingly hoping that Harry would lose his temper so that the punishment could be increased. But Harry swallowed hard and kept his cool, staring at the floor to keep from looking at Snape's taunting face.

"**Well, we shall see how you feel after your detentions," said Snape. "Ten o'clock Saturday morning, Potter. My office."**

"**But sir …" said Harry, looking up desperately. "Quidditch … the last match of the …"**

"**Ten o'clock," whispered Snape, with a smile that showed his yellow teeth. "Poor Gryffindor … fourth place this year I fear …"**

-----

Hermione came storming through the portrait hole. She had been incensed after hearing Harry's account of the confrontation, vowing to go to the Headmaster to plead Harry's side of the story.

"I don't believe this," she fumed. "He won't lift a finger to change a thing. Says it's the Heads of House's prerogative to give detentions and that a detention of that magnitude is not out of line for the offense." She flung herself onto the sofa beside Harry. "I can't understand how that man gets away with the things he does. What kind of hold does he have on Dumbledore anyway? I mean Malfoy even used an Unforgivable Curse and he didn't do anything to him!"

"**Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, and Harry was so amazed** that she seemed not to be supporting him, **he looked up.** But Ginny had a different agenda and continued. "Look at what this has done to our chances in the Ravenclaw match. I can see him giving Harry detention, but the really evil thing he did was making it during the match."

"Ginny!" Hermione was shocked. "How can you only worry about Quidditch when Harry is being unjustly punished for defending himself," she protested. "I mean, Quidditch is important because of house points and all that but it isn't that …"

"**Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."**

**Harry and Ron stared: Hermione and Ginny, who had always got on together very well, were now sitting with their arms folded, glaring in opposite directions. Ron looked nervously at Harry, then snatched up a book at random and hid behind it. Harry, however, **moved over and put his arm around Hermione. Ginny took one look at this and got up and stomped over to the other side of the room.

Harry was puzzled. It seemed as if Ginny was angry that he had taken Hermione's side and he wondered that the two of them seemed to be in some sort of a competition. He leaned over and whispered in Hermione's ear. "Thanks for sticking up for me. I really do appreciate it." Hermione relaxed a bit and gave him a small grateful smile, then snuggled up under his arm.

After a while he spoke up again in a low voice. "I was tempted to use that curse we found in the Prince's book against him but I stopped myself."

"Good for you, Harry," Hermione responded. "I'm very proud of you."

"But Malfoy still was seriously injured and I still got a detention anyway," he pointed out. "What difference did it make?"

"The difference was that you did the right thing," she said softly, putting her arms around him and giving him a hug. "That makes all the difference in the world."

-----

_HBP, Chapter 24_

_Scene: Harry returns from his detention to the Gryffindor common room after the final Quidditch match._

**A roar of celebration erupted from the hole behind her** (the Fat Lady)**. Harry gaped as people began to scream at the sight of him; several hands pulled him into the room.**

"**We won!" yelled Ron, bounding into sight and brandishing the silver Cup at Harry. "We won! Four hundred and fifty to a hundred and forty! We won!"**

**Harry looked around; there was Ginny running toward him; she had a hard, blazing look in her face as she threw her arms around him.** Then she shocked him by pulling him into a hard, passionate kiss. At the same time she pressed her body against his tightly, writhing suggestively. He was immediately reminded of the time he and Ron had seen her and Dean kissing in the corridor. Suddenly his thoughts were snapped back to the fact that his best mate's sister was currently trying to shove her tongue down his throat and he finally managed to break apart from her. **The room had gone very quiet. Then several people wolf-whistled and there was an outburst of nervous giggling.** Harry looked around quickly trying to find the reactions of a few specific people. There was **Dean Thomas holding a shattered glass in his hand, and Romilda Vane looking as though she might throw something**, but he didn't care about them.

Finally his eyes found the two he was looking for. Hermione had a tight, fixed smile on her face, her lips pressed closely together as though she was forcing them into that position. Harry swallowed nervously as he recalled her anger at seeing Ron and Lavender kissing the first time, and wondered how much worse it would be this time. Ron glanced back and forth between him and Hermione, his expression alternating between disapproval and hopefulness.

Finally Hermione broke the spell that seemed to have frozen everyone in place and marched over to where Harry and Ginny were still standing in front of the portrait hole. For the first time Harry noticed that Ginny was smirking at Hermione with something of a triumphant look on her face. When Hermione neither burst into tears and ran away nor began screaming at them Ginny's expression changed to one of puzzlement and she became more guarded, as though she expected to be attacked. Harry just stood there, not knowing what Hermione was going to do or how to react.

Finally Hermione reached them. "Excuse me, Ginny," she said with overly affected politeness. "I'd like my boyfriend back now please." Then she pushed herself in between them, threw her arms around Harry's neck, and pulled him down for a kiss of her own. But her kiss was neither hard nor passionate nor suggestive, but warm and comforting the way Hermione's kisses usually were. Harry got the message immediately. _'It's Okay, I know it wasn't your fault. I trust you.'_

His heart racing as a combination of relief, appreciation, and amazement that he was so lucky to have such a wonderful, understanding girl welled up within him, **he grinned down at **Hermione** and gestured wordlessly out of the portrait hole. A long walk in the grounds seemed indicated, **of which very little time – if any – would be spent discussing the match.

-----

Hermione gave Harry a few highlights of the Quidditch match, primarily that Ron had made a lot of nice saves and that Ginny had caught the snitch. Harry knew that he could get as many details as he wanted out of Ron later. Once that was out of the way they turned to the obvious topic.

"What was that all about with Ginny kissing me?" asked Harry. "I thought you said she'd given up on me."

"I thought she had," responded Hermione. "At least that's what she told me after we started going together. Evidently she never really did. Perhaps she thinks that now that she's so pretty and so obviously desirable that you'll give her another look." She glanced nervously over at Harry as she finished saying this.

"Not a chance of that," Harry reassured her. "I have exactly the girl I want right now." She threw her arms around him and let him know just how happy that declaration made her. The rest of their walk consisted primarily of nonverbal communication.

(Needless to say, the scene at the start of the next chapter with the discussion of tattoos, or any other Harry/Ginny stuff, never took place.)

-----

_HBP, Chapter 25_

_Scene: Harry and Dumbledore are about to set out to look for the Horcrux, and Harry has stopped by to tell Ron and Hermione where they are going and ask them to keep an eye on Malfoy and Snape._

"**Harry …" began Hermione, her eyes wide with fear.**

"**I haven't got time to argue," said Harry**, trying not to look at her. He knew she would be terrified about losing him, and he couldn't bear to see the anguish in her eyes. **"Take this as well." He thrust the socks into Ron's hands.**

"**Thanks," said Ron. "Er … why do I need socks?"**

"**You need what's wrapped in them, it's the Felix Felicis. Share it between yourselves."** He turned to Hermione. "Good-bye, **I'd better go, Dumbledore's waiting …"**

Hermione rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him like she would never let go. **"No!" she said, as Ron unwrapped the tiny little bottle of golden potion, looking awestruck. "We don't want it, you take it, who knows what you're going to be facing?"**

"**I'll be fine, I'll be with Dumbledore," said Harry, **gently untangling himself from her arms as she began weeping. **"I want to know you lot are okay … Don't look like that Hermione, I'll see you later …"**

But Hermione moved forward again and wrapped her arms around him, burying her head against his chest. "Please be careful, Harry. I don't know what I'd do without you … I love you."

It was the first time either of them had said it aloud. An electric jolt went through Harry at her words, but he knew it was time to go. "I'll come back, I promise," he whispered. "You be careful too. I … I love you too."

**And he was off, hurrying back through the portrait hole and toward the entrance hall.**

-----

_HBP, Chapter 28_

_The fight at the top of the Astronomy Tower is over and Harry has chased Snape and Malfoy towards the Hogwarts gates. Harry and Snape are dueling._

**"Stupe …"**

"**Blocked again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" sneered Snape, deflecting the curse once more. "Now _come_!" he shouted at the huge Death Eater behind Harry. "It is time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up."**

Harry now knew how Snape was able to block his spells so easily, so he immediately tried the first nonverbal spell that came to his mind. _Levi …_

"**No, Potter!" screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was soaring backward, hitting the ground hard again, and this time his wand flew out of his hand.**  
**…**

"**You dare use my own spell against me, Potter? It was I who invented **it** – I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my invention on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so …"**

"Crucio!"

**Before Snape could finish **his taunt**, excruciating pain hit Harry; he keeled over in the grass. Someone was screaming, he would surely die of this agony, Snape was going to torture him to death or madness …**

"**No!" roared Snape's voice and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had started; Harry lay curled on the dark grass, **trying to process what had just happened and what he had just heard. Snape! Snape was the Half-Blood Prince? But there was no time to think about that now. While Snape's attention was diverted he had to find his wand.

"**Have your forgotten our orders?" **Snape continued shouting to someone behind Harry. **"Potter belongs to the Dark Lord – we are to leave him! Go! Go!"**

**And Harry felt the ground shudder under his face as the brother and sister and the enormous Death Eater obeyed, running toward the gates. **It must have been one of them who had hit him with the torture curse, from behind. As they ran past him he finally found his wand and jumped to his feet, just as Snape turned to face him once more.

Harry knew he had only one more chance. He needed to block his mind off from Snape, _and_ cast nonverbally. All the hours he had spent with Hermione over the past year practicing Occlumency, as well as honing his nonverbal spellcasting ability, were about to be put to the test. On the plus side, Snape would have no idea how much he had improved, being convinced after the disastrous Occlumency lessons of the year before that Potter was hopeless at it.

As he blanked his mind with Occlumency, Harry suddenly knew which spell he would use. It was a spell he had tried only once before, but Snape's boasting about being the Half-Blood Prince made it most appropriate.

He could see the puzzled look on his hated professor's face as he raised his wand, not being able to read Harry's thoughts. With no advance knowledge, Snape guessed that Harry was going to try a nonverbal disarming hex, and moved to block it.

Sectumsempra! 

Complete and utter shock filled Snape's evil black eyes as the deadly slicing hex struck him. Blood spurted from his face and chest as though he had been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backward and collapsed to the ground, his wand falling from his limp right hand.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ Harry's wand flew away and he was knocked backward. He had been staring at the pool of blood growing under Snape's writhing body and had failed to notice the other three Death Eaters, who had turned back to witness his final, successful attack. Cursing himself for his inattentiveness, he rolled over and scrambled after his wand.

The brother and sister Death Eaters each grabbed one of Snape's arms and dragged him away, blood still flowing from his wounds. The immense bulk of the blond Death Eater now loomed over Harry and he prepared to attempt to dodge the killing curse he felt sure was about to come his way.

Suddenly, **he heard a rush of wings above him and something enormous obscured the stars. Buckbeak had flown at **the Death Eater**, who staggered backward as the razor-sharp claws slashed at him. As Harry raised himself into a sitting position, his head still swimming from its last contact with the ground, he saw **the huge Death Eater** running as hard as he could, the enormous beast flapping behind him and screeching as Harry had never heard him screech.**

**Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding twigs, he knew it would be too late. **Just as he located it he heard a scream coming from the gates. The brother and sister Death Eaters had Disapparated just beyond the school boundaries, taking the bloody body of Snape with them. Buckbeak had abandoned his pursuit of the huge Death Eater and turned his attention to a smaller wizard, cowering in terror up against one of the tall pillars topped by a winged boar. Apparently Buckbeak remembered Malfoy's taunting of him from third year and it was now payback time for the arrogant Slytherin. Harry recalled with grim satisfaction that Malfoy had not taken his apparation test yet, and was undoubtedly waiting for one of the Death Eaters to side-along him. Within a few seconds, Buckbeak was driven away by a volley of curses from the last Death Eater, but not until after he had slashed Malfoy almost as badly as Snape had been slashed by the _Sectumsempra_ curse. While Buckbeak circled angrily overhead just out of range, Malfoy was pulled away by the massive Death Eater and the two of them disappeared with a final pop. Buckbeak's screeching died down as an eerie silence settled over the gates.

**-----**

_HBP, Chapter 29_

_Scene: Harry and Hagrid are standing over Dumbledore's body, and Harry has just picked up and looked at the fake locket._

**He did not want to leave Dumbledore's side, he did not want to move anywhere. Hagrid's hand on his shoulder was trembling. Then another voice said, "Harry, come on."**

**A much smaller and warmer hand had enclosed his and was pulling him upward. He obeyed its pressure without really thinking about it. Only as he walked blindly back through the crowd did he realize, from a trace of flowery scent on the air, that it was **Hermione** who was leading him back into the castle.** Of course it was Hermione, he thought. Who else would it be? Who else had always been there for him when he needed her?

After they got away from the crowd, Hermione began to talk to him in a low, soothing voice. She knew him so well. She knew that he would be reluctant to talk, but also knew that hearing her voice would help calm him down.

"I saw you out there fighting Snape," she began. "I came out of the castle just as they all escaped. Way to nail the bastard. Too bad he got away." Harry looked up in surprise, as Hermione had never used language like this, especially not in reference to a teacher. The grim look on her face reassured him that she was completely serious. "It looked like you had him down before those other Death Eaters hit you by surprise." The way she said it was just right, focusing on his success and not dwelling on his mistake. Being supportive and not critical, just like she had been for him all year.

"Yeah, at first he was blocking everything I threw at him and then he gloated that he knew what was coming so I closed my mind. You should have seen the surprised look on his face when he couldn't break in, and I hit him with the next one. If only those other three hadn't come up just then." Hermione nodded and gave his hand a squeeze. He knew that she shared in his victory, as it was because of her that he had perfected his Occlumency and she had worked tirelessly with him on his nonverbal hexes.

Hermione also knew that Harry had hit him with the _Sectumsempra_ curse, but she wasn't going to bring that up now. Besides, if ever there was an 'enemy' who merited being hit with that hex, it was Snape. She would later be stunned to learn that it was Snape's own curse that had felled him; that _he_ had been the Half-Blood Prince.

"I was running out to help you but then I saw Hagrid go to you so I came over to see what was happening here instead," Hermione finished. She gestured at the crowd still gathered at the place where Dumbledore's body lay. Hermione had been the first student to reach him, and had stood there immobilized with horror for several minutes after she had worked out what must have happened atop the Astronomy Tower. But neither of them wanted to think any further along those lines right now.

"Are you all right?" she asked worriedly. "Physically, I mean," she hastened to add. None of them were all right emotionally, not after what had just happened.

He nodded. "I'm fine." To her credit, she did not object to his standard answer, understanding it to mean, _'I don't have any life-threatening injuries.'_ "What about you?" he asked, suddenly remembering that she had also been involved in the battle, as he pulled back to look her up and down.

"Oh, nothing," she muttered, seemingly irritated with herself. "I wasn't even in the fight." To his look of surprise she responded. "I'll tell you the details later when we sort it all out. McGonagall sent me to get you; everyone's gathering in the hospital wing."

"Everyone else on our side survived," she continued before he could ask, knowing what his next concern would be. "Neville and Ginny were both injured, but they'll recover. Bill is hurt the worst."

"**But the Dark Mark – Malfoy said he stepped over a body …"**

"**He stepped over Bill, but it's all right, he's alive. He's a … a bit of a mess, that's all. Greyback attacked him."**

(They continued to discuss the casualties on both sides as they approached the hospital wing.)

Before going through the doors they paused and turned to face each other. Their eyes locked as they both recalled the acknowledgment of their love for one another that they had made right before Harry had left the castle. It seemed so long ago. What did it even mean anymore, now that their whole world had been turned upside down? Harry had a sinking feeling about what he would have to do, but had no desire to voice those thoughts now. Instead they both came together and embraced in silence.

As they pushed through the doors they heard Lupin explaining Bill's condition. **"No, I don't think that Bill will be a true werewolf," he said, "but that does not mean that there won't be some contamination. Those are cursed wounds. They are unlikely ever to heal fully, and – and Bill might have some wolfish characteristics from now on."**

"**Dumbledore might know something that'd work, though," Ron said. "Where is he? Bill fought those maniacs on Dumbledore's orders, Dumbledore owes him, he can't leave him in this state …"**

Harry found himself unable to speak as a bludger-sized lump seemed to have lodged in his throat. Hermione took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"**Ron – Dumbledore's dead."**

-----

_HBP, Chapter 30_

_Scene: At the conclusion of Dumbledore's funeral._

**Harry looked at Ginny, Ron, and Hermione: Ron's face was screwed up as though the sunlight were blinding him. **Ginny's** face was glazed with tears, but **Hermione** was no longer crying. She met Harry's gaze with the same **soft, compassionate look that he had seen so often in her eyes through the years, **and he knew that at that moment they understood each other perfectly, and that when he told her what he was going to do now, she would **only** say, "Be careful," **not** "Don't do it," **and** accept his decision, because she would not have expected anything less of him. And so he steeled himself to say what he had known he must say ever since Dumbledore had died.**

"Hermione**, listen," he said very quietly, as the buzz of conversation grew louder around them and people began to get to their feet. "I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."**

**She said, with an oddly twisted smile, "It's for some stupid, noble reason, isn't it?"**

"**It's been like … **it's been the most wonderful feeling in the world, being with you this past year," **said Harry. "But I can't … we can't … I've got things to do alone now."**

**She did not cry, she simply looked at him. **He had the feeling that she was waiting for him to complete his feeble argument so that she could demolish it.

"**Voldemort uses people his enemies are close to. Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this up. He'll know, he'll find out. He'll try and get to me through you."**

"Don't be ridiculous, Harry," Hermione responded gently, with that same odd smile on her face. It appeared to him that the smile was saying, _'Is that all you've got, Potter?'_ "Honestly, he already knows about us. I've been with you for six years. Everyone knows I'm your best friend … me and Ron. How am I going to be in any less danger if we break up?" She shushed Harry as he tried to object and she continued. "Would I be safer by myself at home with my parents? Would I be safer if I stayed with Ron at the Burrow? Don't you think the Death Eaters know where Ron lives? Or would I be safer with you wherever you are?"

She paused as Harry frowned. "So even if I'm not your girlfriend they'll still want to use me or Ron as bait, right? Tell me, Harry, that you wouldn't want to come running to save us if he had either of us." Harry shook his head. She was right of course. Just like he had wanted to run to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius last year.

"And don't give me this nonsense about having to do this alone," she continued, systematically countering every one of his arguments. "You know Ron and I are going to be with you all the way on this. We already told you that last summer." She quickly looked around to make sure that no one could overhear. "Can you honestly say you'd be more successful in finding and destroying those things by yourself than with us helping you?" He shook his head again as a smile began to form on his lips. She was right; that was a ridiculous suggestion. But she wasn't finished. "And don't you think," she said softly, her face moving toward his and her arms encircling his neck, "that you might need some comforting once in a while during this task?" As she leaned forward and pressed her lips softly against his, his resistance crumbled. She was right. She was always right. He needed her, for more reasons than one. He needed Ron too. After a very brief kiss she pulled away, a triumphant grin on her face. She knew she had won him over.

Harry nodded to her and looked over towards his other best friend**. Ron, he saw, was now holding **Ginny** and stroking her hair while she sobbed into his shoulder, tears dripping from the end of his own long nose.** Hermione went over to join them and **Harry got up, turned his back on Dumbledore's tomb, and walked away around the lake. Moving felt much better than sitting still, just as setting out as soon as possible to track down the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort would feel better than waiting to do it …**

---------------

_Scene: Back to the original scene from the Prologue of this story._

"Harry?"

Harry pulled his attention back to the present and refocused on Hermione. She was still holding his hands and had that odd smile on her face again. "You looked like you were really lost in thought there for a while," she pointed out.

"I was just thinking over the past few years and all the things the three of us have gone through together. How through it all we stuck together and trusted each other and worked out our differences." Hermione put her arms around him and pulled him onto a hug, then released one arm and reached out to Ron, pulling him into the hug as well.

"Shall we get going then?" Harry inquired as they all pulled away, smiles on their faces.

"Together?" Ron asked.

"Together!" Harry and Hermione chorused in response. And arm in arm, the trio began the walk back to the castle, and out toward the task awaiting them.

**The End (for now)**

---------------

A/N Several readers have asked if I'm going to continue this story into the summer and seventh year. That had not been my intention. When I thought about it, it seemed that it would be a rewrite of Soul Searching without any of the Harry/Ginny and Harry/Hermione relationship drama. Without that, I don't think Soul Searching would have been nearly as interesting (and it would have been a lot shorter!). On the other hand, many of the readers of Soul Searching were clamoring for me to hurry up and get Harry and Hermione together. I think I'll let it stay the way it is for a while, but if there's a huge demand for a Soul Searching revision that takes off from this alternate reality, I'll consider it. Another possibility would be for me to wait until JK's Book 7 comes out, and 'fix' that as well. In the meantime, I have other stories in progress, one of which will be posted soon.


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